


London's Love

by Moonalight



Series: London Vampire [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Eventual Smut, Pre-Relationship, Vampire!Saguru, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:48:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25973923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonalight/pseuds/Moonalight
Summary: Two years ago, a case went horribly wrong. When the dust settled, Saguru was not as he once was. He was a vampire, a blood sucker. As a detective he has sworn not to hurt people. As a vampire he hunts them to survive. His shaky morals might not stand up to moving to Japan, chasing after a thief in white. Not when that thief's scent temps him so.
Relationships: Hakuba Saguru/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Series: London Vampire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885228
Comments: 10
Kudos: 83





	1. Blood Landing

******  
London’s great love-Vampires. Something that fascinated the humans scurrying through the streets, a momentary fixation and romanticized love. Then they would focus on something completely different and forget about the beings said to walk in the shadows...

Saguru reached up to block the sunlight beating down on him, his blue eyes narrowing under the brightness. Despite the cold season and approaching clouds, he still managed to find himself under the sun. A sigh had barely left his lips before Baaya was worriedly hovering. 

“Young master?” She asked worriedly, wrinkled and weathered hands waving around his figure as she looked him over, “Are you well?” 

“I’m fine, Baaya,” he smiled at her, lowering his hand and relaxing minutely, “Just a bit jet lagged. It’s been quite some time since I was in Japan.” 

His answer seemed to sate her worry seeing as she stopped hovering. Saguru had gotten used to her worry over time. It was completely reasonable, though it wasn’t like he could explain his new found strangeness to her. 

‘New found’. Like he hadn’t already been like this for two years. Still, with the source of his change a mystery to her, she still treated him like a fragile doll sitting on an unsteady shelf. Every little action he made was carefully watched and cataloged so she could better care for him. 

He never thought she would give him permission to travel from London. 

Struggles in the city of his birth had been growing out of hand, however. Fighting for territory was not something he enjoyed participating in. Just one of the many reasons he had chosen to relocate to the home of his father. Hopefully he wouldn’t face the same problems here. 

Japan couldn’t have as many vampires as London.

Yes, that was what had changed two years prior. Saguru had been turned into a vampire during a case gone wrong. By some miracle he had managed to get through the ordeal and return home from being ‘missing’. His family had welcomed him home with open arms, completely unaware of his new supernatural nature.

Things had greatly continued as normal. After the excitement died down, the only evidence of his time gone were the ‘habits’, as his caretaker called them. Subtle things like his slight aversion to sunlight, queasiness at the smell of blood, or his time keeping obsession. 

Of course, there was also his hunting. 

Speaking of, as Baaya started to herd him into the car, he could feel his thirst pining for each heartbeat they passed. The steady thumping rhythm eat body contained, pumping life blood through their veins, completely unaware of his need. 

Another of his ‘habits’. Disappearing for a time to hunt. That was the one it had taken Baaya the longest to get used to. Eventually she had to accept it because he really did come back looking happier and healthier. 

His hunger sated and instincts pushed back for a little while longer.  
******  
The house was just as he remembered. A lone estate he and Baaya alone would live in. It was outside the city, in the countryside on a forested property. There was only one downside to his new accommodations; he was rather far from his food source. 

Everything had already been brought over from his home in London. His room was ready to be arranged to his liking, but he had more important things to be concerned about. One of those things being the KID heist his father was allowing him to attend that night. The other, and more immediate thing, was his clawing thirst. 

He had fed three nights before in preparation for the long hassle that moving would bring. That meal was starting to become of little help. 

With that in mind, he convinced Baaya to drive him back to the city to ‘try and meet with father’. Naturally, his father was unable to meet due to a prior engagement. It was completely as he expected. And so he shifted his excuse to ‘walking around a bit’. 

She recognized it as code for his habit, and he was finally released from her worried gaze. There were so many people on the streets of the city, he could’ve had a limitless selection. If there wasn’t one small thing standing between him and a feast. 

He was still a detective.

Saguru opened his mouth slightly, letting scents wafting off the bodies around him fill his senses. With the scents came a mingle of emotions as well. To some small degree, he could discern how a person was feeling through their scent. It was that skill he used most often in his hunting. 

There were so many people, so many new scents from the city, but he kept an iron hold on his control. Walking down the street completely naturally, searching for that one scent that would start the hunt.

The scent of a criminal.

His hunt started to drag on, the beating of innocent people’s hearts becoming more and more tempting. Then, an hour into his ‘walk’, he smelled blood. It invaded his senses, taking control of his instincts he struggled to hold back. Almost without his permission his feet were changing direction. The smell of that delicious liquid coming from upwind leading him onward as he ducked into one of the many dark alleys between buildings. 

It was late in the afternoon and there was no one around as he twisted down a side alley. There, crouched by an overflowing dumpster, a man was leaning over something. That something was the source of the intoxicating smell taking of Saguru’s senses. Red wasted as it spread across the cold pavement, soaking the man’s shoes. 

A growl rose in his throat, signalling his presence to the murderer in front of him. The drenched knife was still in hand, dripping oh so teasingly. First and foremost however, Saguru was a detective. 

“Murderer,” he hissed, barely reigning back his vampire side as he glared. 

“Get out of here kid,” the man warned, standing to his full towering height. He was a stranger to the city, like Saguru. He could smell the plane fuel and exhaust on him. His skin was dark and tan, Japanese rough like he wasn’t used to speaking it. A traveling killer.

“Why did you kill her?” It was a new question. As new as his change. Something he asked all his prey, trying to understand. Still, the man’s scent gave away more than he would likely mean to. He smelled of anger and lust. It wasn’t hard to piece the scene together from that. 

“I said leave!” He brandished the knife in a way that would scare away a casual observer, but Saguru could tell he had no intention of using it on him. The scent was growing fearful, trapped. 

“I asked,” this time Saguru took a step forward, pushing the slightest amount of suggestion into his voice as he spoke, “Why did you kill her?” 

His weak power of suggestion usually only worked on frantic minds. Something he very much was. The knife dropped slightly, confusion taking over his features as he thought over the question. “I-” his words were halting like he couldn’t understand why he wanted to answer him. Saguru carefully dropped his challenging posture, tilting his head in innocent curiosity to help calm his prey. 

“She,” he motioned with the knife to the crumpled body, heart already stopped and hope lost, “said she loved me. I came to Japan for her, and sh-she-!” 

Saguru had been right then. He could smell another man’s scent on the woman’s body. Her murderer, lover, had caught them, and this was the result. 

“You loved her,” it was a pur, posture completely relaxed as he began to approach the dazed human, “and she betrayed you.”

“Yeah, I did, she did,” he muttered, head moving up and down like what Saguru was saying was gospel. 

“It was her fault you had to spill that beautiful blood,” he reached up, using just a small amount of power to get the man to kneel, his neck closer, “You didn’t want to do it.”

The knife clanged as it hit the ground, Saguru’s teeth hovering centimeters above the skin. He waited silently, feeling his instincts pushing just under the surface. Still he held himself back, waiting until the prey fully gave himself over. 

When he felt the body completely submit to its hunter, he allowed his vampirism to surface. His fangs grew, pushing at his bottom lip, lowering toward the vulnerable skin. He knew his blue eyes had already turned burning red, bloodlust tugging at his soulless body. 

Two small incisions from the sharp fangs and blood bloomed forward. A small gasp of pain from the prey and he was whispering soft things to keep it still.

Then he leaned down to drink.


	2. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re one minute, 13.02 seconds late, KID the Phantom Thief.”

******  
Drinking before the heist was a good idea. Just being on site, surrounded by the adrenaline pumping officers, was enough to make his thirst return slightly. His irritation wasn’t helping either. 

His father had introduced him to the officer in charge, a Nakamori-keibu, and the man reeked of excitement. Even without trying to, Saguru could smell his emotions. He wore them on his sleeve, loud and boisterous just like his personality. Sure, he talked big about catching the international thief, but underneath Saguru could tell he held a fondness close to heart. His priorities for catching the criminal were skewed by affection built over years. He would be no help. 

The way he treated Saguru like some child was also annoying. It grated on his nerves to be talked done to, even if it was understandable when his skill was still unknown. That had led to a stream of questions, the most basic of which the inspector could not answer. Oh, Saguru knew he was skilled. He had managed to protect several past targets and nearly caught the thief a number of times, but too many things were pushing at his limits and he couldn’t even pretend to be respectful.

The organized chaos of a heist took a lot to get used to. Patrols moved down every hall, guards stationed around every corner. All for a painting. All because of one man. 

Well, two. Saguru highly doubted this was the same KID that had disappeared eight years before. There were too many inconsistencies. Three if he included the first reappearances where showmanship was hardly a priority as it was now. 

All the fast beating hearts and adrenaline junkies he was surrounded by pushed him to leave the building for a moment. He decided a safe bet would be the cold parking lot. Chilling snow now fell from the sky, making him shiver as he pushed his hands into his jacket’s pockets. His breaths were clouds against the air, white starting to collect in his blonde hair. Each breath was a relief, deep and freeing. The gusts of cool air stole away any scents he might accidentally take in, free for just a second. 

Just as he was about to return to the bustle of the gallery, his foot hit something. He glanced down, staring at the innocent police badge half buried in the snow. Sure the operation was a hectic one, but no officer would just drop their badge and not notice. 

He paused, listening past the inconsequential noise, pushing his slightly advanced hearing until a different sound caught his attention. Banging and muffled noise. His feet led him where his eyes could not. Down the parked line of police cruisers, until the sound was right next to him. He leaned in, wiping away the collected snow to see inside the vehicle. 

A stripped man stared back out at him, writhing in his binds, eyes wide. Defenseless. Saguru felt a smirk pull at his lips, turning to look back at the large building’s roof. Just as he’d thought...  
******  
It was child’s play. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat disappointed as he watched from the shadows. The cop he’d found tied up in the cruiser was standing right in front of the painting KID was targeting. There were too many people for Saguru to try and focus on him, it would just add to his headache. Hunting rejuvenated him, but longer hunts like the one he’d done that morning left him slightly strained. To many smells, to many emotions, and he’d come down with a migraine. It was something he’d rather avoid. 

It wasn't like he needed to scent the disguised man anyway. Clearly it was KID. He just had to wait for him to make the first move. His hand ran over the cool metal of his pocket watch, the steady tick moving closer to the appointed time. That time came and went, and for a moment it seemed as though nothing was going to happen. Then Saguru saw the officer reach into his pocket and he tensed in preparation.

An explosion of smoke and noise made him wince as he put away his time piece to watch the ensuing stupidity. Inside the golden frame, the painting was not. Instead there was a sheet of white paper, KID’s signature drawing spanning the lower half. 'I have taken the painting. -Kaitou KID'. Mocking, sure to egg on the emotional inspector. 

Just as expected, Nakamori-san was quick to order his men out in an attempt to find the seemingly escaped thief. Not one member of the task force noticed him leaning casually against the hall outside, completely blended in with his surroundings with just a touch of his instincts. He purposefully kept his mouth closed as they ran by, careful not to mistakenly take in their scents. The whole time he never took his eyes off the figure kneeling in front of the exhibit. One of the officers still remained there, coughing on the residual smoke just until the room was clear of other people. 

A smirk graced Saguru’s face as he watched the seemingly normal officer stand and wave playfully after the departing task force. All teeth, almost a snarl as he was assured of his correctness. 

He began his approach, body dropping into a half stalk, silent and completely unnoticeable as the officer in blue revealed his trick. Pulling aside the sheet of paper and unveiling the painting still beneath. He started muttering to himself as Saguru approached, pulling the nails from the canvas to better transport his obtained target. 

The picture of confidence, Saguru leaned back against the room's doorframe, watching the now caught thief from the corner of his eye. His words cut off the man’s muttering, surprising him into standing. 

“You’re one minute, 13.02 seconds late, KID the Phantom Thief.” The fake officer was assured in his movements, still completely nonchalant as he turned to take in the teenage detective. 

“Well, I got held up by the snow,” the man shrugged, bouncing a small white orb in his hand before throwing it down. Another cloud of smoke erupted around him as it struck the ground and Saguru stepped forward. When it cleared KID was above him on the second floor balcony. The painting held carefully rolled in his hand as he smirked, dressed in audacious white, his signature outfit, “It seems you weren’t so quick on the uptake with this trick, huh?”

Saguru smiled triumphantly as he pretended to remember something while looking up at the thief, “Oh, that’s right. I cut your rope.”

“Wh-what?!” Clearly KID wasn’t used to his chasers being ahead of him. 

“After the magic show, did you intend to perform a circus act?” Saguru began walking as KID hurried to check his sabotaged preparations, slowly ascending the winding stairs around the room up to the balcony, certain his prey wouldn’t escape. “Also, I set free the ad balloon that was on the roof.”

KID had to be sweating now, eyes flickering to watch his approach from under that white top hat. It wasn’t fear or panic Saguru saw there though. It was curiosity. “Is that right?” KID still sounded completely calm. A poker face worthy of any great magician. 

“You’ve got no escape route now,” he mused, stopping a few feet from the caped man, “KID the Phantom Thief, true identity unknown, it’s time for everything about you to come to light.”

KID then did something Saguru hadn’t expected. He smiled. 

His gloved hands slid into his pockets, and suddenly his cape was transforming. A mechanism activating, gears winding, turning his soft fabric costume piece into something useful. A hang glider. “Secrets are everything to a magician,” KID told him softly, ducking his head as he reached up to tip his hat slightly in acknowledgement of the detective, “And I won’t let mine come to light that easily.” 

“Just like Batman...” he mused, smiling a bit more genuinely as he took in the crazy thief before him.

“Batman is a comic book hero,” KID chuckled, charmed monocle flashing as he tilted his face toward Saguru, “He doesn’t really exist. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

The paned window flew open, latch suddenly free to be moved by the wind. Icy air flooded into the room, snow swirling around the white thief, blending into his apparel. And then, for the first time that night, Saguru inhaled KID’s scent. 

Sudden pleasure took him by surprise, hand shooting up to cover his mouth and nose while KID lept from the window ledge. Wind circulated that scent back to the detective and he choked back his instincts trying to rush forward, screaming at him to chase his prey. 

KID smelled intoxicating. His scent was a mix of flash fire, bird feathers, flowers, and the sweetness of chocolate. Things that had no right smelling that good mixed together. A heavy heat settled in his stomach, fangs just starting to poke at his lips as he stumbled back away from the place KID had departed from. 

All at once his slight headache was gone, vampirism pushing, demanding that he stop holding back and just go. Go and do what? Saguru wasn’t sure, the scent left him lightheaded and his knees weak. He reached out to the balcony railing, gripping the stone so hard it nearly cracked. 

Just as quickly as it delivered it, the wind was pulling the thief’s smell back out into the night. Freezing air filled his panting lungs instead, feet stumbling back as his mind started to clear enough for him to gain his bearings. 

Never before had he reacted to a scent like that. Just who was KID?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't actually find a free translation of the episode, so I did my best from what screenshots and such I could piece together.  
> Anyway, the babies have met! And soon, Saguru will be stuck in a small classroom with that intoxicating scent...mwhahahahahhahahaha! I'm so cruel to my children.


	3. Permission and Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The woman, because she was a woman, not a girl, caught his attention partially because of her appearance and partially because he recognized a witch when he saw one. A witch of red magic no less, and clearly she saw him for what he really was. A vampire.

******  
The night had passed in a blur. Saguru hardly remembered leaving the gallery or arriving home. He’d managed to pass off his strangeness as exhaustion from the late hour when Baaya asked, but the truth was much different. He was the opposite of tired. He was alive and wild, still reeling from the scent KID had used to bring him to heel. Sure, the phantom thief hardly knew the effect he had on the London detective, but with a reaction like that it was only a matter of time.

He couldn’t attend another heist.

Instead of sleeping, he had spent the evening working and thinking. A couple calls to the very few supernatural allies he had sent the ball rolling. His people were looking into certain humans being particularly alluring to vampires through their own contacts. 

Alluring. That hardly covered what the scent did to him. Just breathing it in for a second had triggered his hunting instincts faster than anything he’d smelled before. It was like a drug specifically made to suit his tastes, giving him the best high he’d ever experienced. 

As for thinking, he’d come to the realization that although KID was a thief, he didn’t fit into his morally gray zone of prey. The research he’d done revealed that though he was called ‘thief’, he hardly stole. Or, at the very least, nothing he took remained stolen for long. He would always return his targets rather quickly. A thief with honor, something Saguru could admire.

With such facts pertaining to the curious human, he decided it would go against his personal code to hunt him.  
******  
Unfortunately, Saguru’s father had this thing about education. Even though his son was smart enough to already be in college and even though he insisted he could graduate high school early, Saguru was still forced to start attending Ekoda High the day after he moved to Japan. Apparently it was so he could experience his youth with others his age. It wasn’t something he quite understood. 

In his ‘experience’, others his age despised him. They always reeked of jealousy and anger. Not to mention the hormonal surges of emotion that promised a migraine five days out of the week if he didn’t keep a tight grasp on his senses. 

And so it was completely against his will that he found himself standing in front of a class of teenagers, introducing his way through their talking.

“February fourth, twenty-fifteen. At 9:32.41, I transferred here from a high school in London,” conversations became silent, gazes turned to look at the blonde detective in awe as he smiled charmingly, “I’m Hakuba Saguru. Everything will come to light.” 

The reaction to his supposed ‘catchphrase’ was instant. His new classmates were on their feet crowing about how cool he was. Their loudness made him wince slightly, his heightened hearing striking yet again. As they flocked, gossiping about his appearance and renown faster than he could bother paying attention to, he scanned the classroom slowly. 

Nearly every one of his peers had moved into a group, talking about him like he wasn’t even there. He heard whispers of some of his solved cases, his family history, how attractive he was; nothing that interested him. 

However, there were four that caught his eye. A small girl with glasses and pigtails, the girl she was talking to who had long brown hair, a messy haired boy, and a young woman that radiated beauty and confidence. 

The small girl simply caught his attention because she seemed to be talking with her friend about his help at the heist the night before. That heist hadn’t been one of the ones caught by the media so nobody should know that he attended. They either had been there or they knew someone on the task force. 

The boy caught his attention because of how shifty he was. He almost seemed angry that Saguru was there, intent on staring out the window and forgetting his existence. Strange to already have someone hate him so intensely. 

The woman, because she was a woman, not a girl, caught his attention partially because of her appearance and partially because he recognized a witch when he saw one. A witch of red magic no less, and clearly she saw him for what he really was. A vampire.

She had her scarlet eyes locked on him, scanning him up and down even more intensely than he did her. He remained still, letting her evaluate him without a fight. Though he himself didn’t have much experience with witches personally, he had heard enough from other supernaturals and humans alike to know not to get on their bad side. Witches saw themselves above all other supernatural beings. In a lot of ways they were correct to do so.

Out of all the monsters in the dark, witches had the least amount of detriments to their power. They also had the widest range of power. Getting into a scrap with a witch was like signing your death warrant. If they didn’t kill you their coven would. Saguru had left London partially to escape territory scrambles, he wasn’t about to start off on the wrong foot with the resident witch of his classroom. 

The dark haired woman seemed to find something acceptable in him considering the small nod she sent his way. 

He hadn’t even realized he’d begun to tense up until his muscles relaxed. He had permission to be in her presence, her territory. It would’ve been nearly impossible to convince his father to let him transfer after only the first day and so he was grateful. 

Saguru sent a nod back, deeper and more respectful than what she’d done. He may not spend much time around other supernaturals, but he knew something of the hierarchy for their kind. Witches were largely at the top; especially red magic users. Then came a few others, not to mention the fact that each species had different breeds and ranks within themselves. It was a whole can of worms that the London detective was still untangling after two years. 

He did know one thing though. Where he stood. Saguru was not one of the pure vampires, he was a turned one. A strong one, sure, compared to most turned, but nothing to brag about to other supernaturals. He would be below his class witch no matter what happened. So long as he paid her the respect she was due and stayed out of her way, she would allow him to remain.

As he walked to his desk that the flustered teacher had pointed out for him, he noticed that the angry boy was casting suspicious looks between him and the witch. Saguru gave him a second look over, but the boy didn’t seem like a witch. Could he be one of her enthralled? Bad luck would have it, his desk was the one next to the boy’s. However, it was also the one in front of the scarlet eyed woman.

First and foremost, he looked again to the witch, their eyes catching as he asked her a silent question. The twitch of a smile, permission. 

“Mylady,” he inclined his head, setting his bag on his new chair and walking up to her side. Her legs were crossed under the desk, pale skin teasingly showing from under her school skirt. A trap for men. 

She smiled at him, full of lips to red to be bare and emotions as hot as flame in those deep eyes, “Hakuba-kun, I believe?”

Straight to a slightly more familiar address. He wasn’t so suicidal to follow suit though, and so he waited for her name. 

“I’m Koizumi Akako,” she purred, offering a hand which he took gratefully, pressing a soft kiss in greeting just above her thumb juncture as she spoke, “You may call me Akako-sama.”

Push and pull at once. Her first name coupled with master. Another silent question, ‘would it be binding?’ A denial. You always had to check with witches. Saguru could already feel the flow of her magic trying to feel him out and pull him into her clutches. It wasn’t disrespectful to deny a witch’s control so long as you were cordial about it. 

“Akako-sama.” They were on shifting ground, but for the moment he was accepted. 

When he turned from her finally, it was to find the whole class staring at the two of them with glittering eyes. His attention had them quickly turning away, whispering, completely unaware he could hear them as they gushed over how beautiful the vampire and witch looked as a couple. 

He sighed, taking his seat in the new desk and waiting for the homeroom to start. Though things had gone better than expected, he still detested high school. Without thinking, he took in a deeper breath, senses releasing just the tiniest amount...

Flash fire, bird feathers, flowers, and the sweetness of chocolate.

Promptly he snapped his mouth shut, breath frozen mid inhale. The faintest of scents managing to slip through his control. His hands gripped at his bag, a slight tear signalling the over use of strength. Just as the night before, heat pooled in his stomach, vampirism suddenly writhing as it screamed for him to locate the source of that heavenly scent. 

His fangs started to sharpen, but before they could push past his mouth, he purposefully pressed them into the soft skin of his lower lip. It took hardly any pressure at all to split the skin. His own blood began to spill onto his tongue, taking away some of the sharpness of the momentarily breathed scent. 

He released his bag, hands shaking as he yanked back his vampire side. Nails dug into the fragile skin of his palm, more blood spilling. Saguru couldn’t smell it though. He clamped down on his scent of smell, sealing his mouth shut and only breathing through his nose.

Unless he opened his mouth to scent, his sense of smell was human level. He had never been so grateful that he was a low breed of vampire. If he had a pureblood’s sense of smell, the source of that scent would already be bent over a desk with fangs in their neck. 

Very slowly and very carefully, he turned his head. The drug-like smell had wafted over him so fast, but his instincts had been faster. They had pinpointed where it was mostly concentrated just before he had pulled them back.

The source was directly to his left. A messy haired brunette with clear blue eyes, completely unaware of what had just occurred as he pointedly avoided looking at Saguru. KID. KID sitting at the desk directly to his left. 

His classmate was KID the Phantom Thief. And now he had to deal with trying to avoid that addictive scent five days a week. 

Bloody hell. He should’ve stayed in London.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, didn't realize how Twilight this was turning out until I actually went back and reread what I wrote. Fun fact, I have never read those books or seen a full movie.  
> KID was given away so fast. I sort of imagine Saguru scents like a snake. With a combination of his tongue and his nose. Not that snakes have noses. Anyway, if you couldn't tell I also really like Akako and so that was a really lengthy part of this chapter because slow burn and long explanations are my jam! Please roll with me...


	4. Holy Silver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usually Saguru could go four days before he needed to hunt. That did not appear to be the case when that scent was involved.

******  
Saguru claimed he was no fool. He was a verifiable genius, a prodigy. Very often he followed his gut instinct because it was correct. However, when his gut instinct started demanding he corner his classmate to feast on, he drew a line. The whole homeroom he kept a tight hold on his vampirism, refusing to allow even the faintest scent in. A few of his new classmates approached him which resulted in tight and cordial interactions. They hardly seemed to notice, too busy admiring him like a doll.

Thankfully, KID did not try to interact with him. He spent the whole time refusing to acknowledge Saguru’s presence. The witch had noticed his reaction though. He could sense her watching, waiting. Curious and prepared. Yet another reason to hold himself back. 

Usually Saguru could go four days before he needed to hunt. That did not appear to be the case when that scent was involved. 

It was for precisely that reason that he was quick to lie through his teeth. Standing completely gracefully and dismissing himself from school as soon as that first class was over. He fed some falsehood about still having things to settle about the move, and that he’d only come to introduce himself and see the school. 

They all bought it hook, line, and sinker. Well, not all. Obviously Akako was doubtful, but he received her permission to leave for the moment. Then there was that boy-

He needed more information. 

It was no work at all to slip into the administration office and snag the files of those four students that had caught his eye. None of the staff even questioned a student leaving before school had really begun. Saguru was starting to wonder about Ekoda High. 

Just like what had happened the night before, he was stuck in something of a daze. He hadn’t inhaled as much of the scent this time around, but the effects were still there slightly. The need. 

He needed to hunt.  
******  
It had taken a long while to convince Baaya not to call his father. She had been worried when she had to pick him up on the side of the road, quite a ways from the high school. Saguru was feeling much better thanks to a mugger he’d come across down the street. Not that his caretaker knew that. 

Again he lied through his teeth, telling her it had been a bit overwhelming after the night he had and pleading that she wouldn’t go to his parents over this. Just when had lying become something he excelled at? Manipulating people left a bad taste in his mouth. He had always tried to be honest before, but now it felt like all he did was lie. 

Something that made him feel better was that he had a lead. 

Rather than have her drive him home, he asked Baaya to take him to a certain address. It was a small shop, inconsequential in the hubbub of the city. Considering visiting strange places was nothing new for him she didn’t question it as much. He stepped out of the car with a promise to be as fast as he could. 

The bell dinged as he entered. Compared to the more contemporary buildings surrounding it, the shop was far more old wood style. Antiques and trinkets rested on every shelf. Books, ingredients, tools; things magic or supernatural in nature were the product here. A supernatural shop, address courtesy of one of his contacts. 

“Hello, my dear,” a sweet voice crooned from somewhere among the old, carved bookshelves, “Hakuba Saguru, I presume?”

“Yes,” he bowed lowly, already warned of the owner’s status as a witch, “Thank you for allowing me entry.” 

“A friend told me you had a question,” she came around the corner, long platinum hair oh so different from Japanese milling around outside, “And that question was interesting to me, so I figured, it couldn’t hurt.” 

“Then you already know the answer,” he asked, keeping eyes low and polite, feeling her magic swirl and paw at him just like Akako’s had.

“You want to know what it means when a human is irresistible to a vampire,” steps and then white heels were entering Saguru’s lowered sight, “And I assume I am correct when I say you’ve met one such human? One that drives you insane with every wiff, and could get you to do anything for just one bite?”

His stomach squirmed at the idea, throat bobbing as he swallowed. The smell was so good...what could his blood taste like?

Nailed fingers caught his chin, turning his head up to meet green eyes. An amused smile was spread across her face, like she was watching a cat tear into a bird. Her fingers moved his face, shifting his gaze to the side. His eyes met a large body mirror propped up against the counter to his right. 

Saguru hardly recognized himself. 

His hair, usually groomed and brushed into something neat, was sticking up and wild; a result of running his fingers through it too many times while trying to forget that scent. The new uniform he wore was rumpled and messy, specks of blood just barely noticeable on his white color. The man wouldn’t stop struggling and Saguru couldn’t calm him down because that scent was all he could think about. His fangs were already starting to poke out over his lips, instinctual upon thinking of what that blood could taste like. His usually clear blue eyes were swirling and dark, red as wine as heat pulled at him.

And his pale face was flushed red. Arousal tugging him like a dog on a chain. 

He was a slave to his instincts.

“Do you want to know?” The witch asked, voice low and playful as she watched him stare at his reflection. Again his throat bobbed, a motion that was entirely too much for Saguru and had him stealing his gaze away from how he looked. 

“It’s not just any vampire,” she continued once she held his attention, nails drawing lines teasingly over his jaw, “Only you. When a human is so amazingly appetizing to a vampire, it means they are compatible. In every way. Personality wise, thought wise, sex wise,” she leaned in close, lips brushing the ring of his ear as she whispered, “blood wise.” 

A shudder swept through him, something of a choked gasp making its way through his parted lips. The white witch pulled back, still smiling as she spoke.

“In some ways, it’s close to what human’s refer to as ‘soulmates’.” He blinked, lost as he tried to clear away the murk of arousal that was clouding his mind, “Of course, it is a much more dangerous version. Human’s romanticize soulmates so much it’s laughable. This is something deadly. One wrong move and temptation can drive a vampire to horrible results.”

That cleared his head somewhat. He didn’t want to hurt KID. Saguru was a detective, he worked to save lives. That was the very reason he didn’t kill when he fed, why he fed on criminals, why he did everything. 

“How do I stop it?” His voice was raw in a way he’d never heard himself before. Words almost unwilling to come forth because, ‘Why? Why did he want to get rid of that amazing scent?’

She chuckled slightly, taking a step back as she moved behind the glass counter he’d just been facing. Saguru ducked around the mirror to follow, desperation leading him on.

“You have to indulge.”

His blood ran cold, he stared at her wide eyed, waiting for her to elaborate as she fiddled with something on the counter. 

“The only way to get used to the scent is to accept it,” she hummed, “Breathe it in, interact with them, feed off of them,” she set something on the counter in front of him, eyes twinkling as she suggested, “sleep with them.” 

“I can’t,” he didn’t have that control.

“This will help,” he finally looked down. Her hand was nudging a necklace towards him. A silver cross necklace. His feet backpedalled, staring at the offending item in shock. 

“Silver and holy symbols,” she recited, holding up the accessory to the now fearful vampire, “Though they won’t kill a vampire, they do weaken them. I’ve enchanted this to weaken you just enough that the scent shouldn’t affect you. It should go without saying that you’ll need to keep it off of you when you hunt or need a little extra boost.”

The vampirism in Saguru was screaming again, all it ever did anymore. He still remembered the first time he tried to attend church after turning, it had burned every second he was within the holy building. 

But if it stopped him from savaging his classmate...

Tentative steps, reaching out to take the offered object and clasping it around his neck before he could let himself run. It was heavy around his chest, like a collar. The thought made a low hiss slide between his fangs. 

“There you go,” she smirked, tilting her head as she looked him over, “You can use the bathroom to tidy up, my dear. Don’t want to keep your driver waiting forever.”


	5. Testing Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slowly, very slowly, he let his lips part. The control on his dulled senses were released, drinking in the world around him. He saw her open her mouth to speak but further words were lost.

******  
The files he had stolen from the school didn’t prove much use. Information was sparse. Besides the students’ names, birthdays, ages, and class evaluations, there was really nothing. 

He found out the small girl was Momoi Keiko. Sixteen years old, nothing of interest pertaining to her. 

Her friend, he discovered, was Nakamori Aoko. She was the one that had gained information from the heist, and from an obvious source. Her father was Nakamori Ginzou, the head of KID’s task force. Her evaluation claimed that she was smart but fiery. She had interrupted class several times throughout the year to instigate fights. Fights with her childhood friend. 

Koizumi Akako didn’t have much information in the school’s papers so he brushed over her. 

His main interest he checked last. KID. Kuroba Kaito. A genius magician in training, childhood friends to Nakamori Aoko, typical suspect when class was delayed. A prankster, trickster, peeper, the list went on. Born June twenty-first, sixteen years old. Saguru found himself rereading that short file more times than he cared to admit. It kept his mind off the slight sting against his chest. 

He had tested the effectiveness of the new collar and sure enough, his senses were dulled when he was wearing it. Not completely but enough to be noticeable. Hearing, sight, smell, his strength, all of it. As much as he hated the idea-

He would have to put it to the test.   
******  
‘Meet me on the roof.’ 

The text from an unknown number had him arriving at school the next day earlier than he needed to. He already could hazard a guess of who the number belonged to, confirmed when he met the dark haired woman on the school’s roof. 

“Akako-sama,” a bow of respect that he didn’t rise from; her scarlet eyes looked angry today. She crossed her arms over he chest, taking in his bowed posture sharply. 

“Show me.” He glanced up, watching as she tapped her sharp nail to her neck in explanation. Saguru paused for only the barest moment before he straightened. His fingers pulled at the buttons of his uniform, undoing first the jacket and then the undershirt. When he lowered his arms, the necklace was there in full view. A silver cross aching against his skin. 

Of course she knew about it. Either she could sense the magic or that white witch was in her coven. Whatever the reason, he watched as her gaze turned curious, taking him in all over again for the second time. 

“Who is it?” Her voice was edging on furious despite the calmness of her eyes. His instincts made him flinch, warning against angering the more powerful being. 

“Kuroba Kaito.” The name fell from his lips, the first time he had said it aloud. 

To his surprise, she seemed to have expected it. Her angry aura faded, arms lowering as she smiled, “Well that explains it.” Whatever realization she had come to he was not a part of. He remained still as she spoke again, amusement now coloring her tone, “Would you like to test it now?” 

Before he could ask what she meant, the clanging of a door opening sent him rigid. Her smile grew, wicked and controlling. Saguru moved quickly in response. His body spun, ducking around the corner of the roof entrance. Footsteps ascended the stairwell. He drew himself further back as a third person exited onto the roof. 

KID.

“What do you want this time, witch?” The way he spoke, the way he challenged her, it left Saguru breathless. He waited, certain Akako would tear him apart for such behavior. He didn’t expect her to cackle. 

“Oh, Kuroba-kun,” the witch smirked as she finished laughing, hand finding purchase on her hip, “Tell me, are you ready to submit?” 

“And become your slave?” Kuroba crossed his own arms, turning his nose up at the idea, “No thanks. Is that why you asked me up here?” 

Saguru’s hand brushed over the necklace, her earlier words clicking. ‘Test it.’ She wanted him to try and scent Kuroba. The idea made him bristle, images of his classmate lying broken on the cold floor flashing across his mind. 

“No,” her words were carried to him by the wind, his hand still hovering over the open shirt, “I wanted to warn you. I’m sure you’re already aware of the danger our new classmate poses?” 

He froze, staring around the corner at her with wide eyes. She wouldn’t, right? There was no reason for her to reveal what he was. Her eyes flicked to his, past Kuroba. A small flicker of judgement rested there, looking pointedly at his necklace.

He swallowed, attention stolen back by the teenage thief as he spoke, “If you’re talking about the fact that he’s a detective, how many times do I need to tell you? I’m not KID!” Her brow lifted; a question. Would she? If he didn’t test it now, would she tell him? 

Saguru knew now that Kuroba was aware of her nature as a witch. Whether or not he knew about other supernaturals was void. If she told him...

Slowly, very slowly, he let his lips part. The control on his dulled senses were released, drinking in the world around him. He saw her open her mouth to speak but further words were lost. 

The scent was much fainter than what he’d taken in the classroom. Holy silver doing its part, taking away the brunt of his enhanced smell. But it was still there. 

Flash fire from his tricks. Bird feathers; doves he could smell nearby. Flowers he had hidden somewhere on his person. The sweetness of chocolate he could practically taste falling from the boy’s lips as he spoke. 

His instincts stole away sense, fangs sharpening in response and his legs gave out from the effort of holding back. So much fainter, so much easier to control, but still hard. Saguru pulled himself further around the corner out of sight. His fangs grew to full size, pushing his lips open, his mouth falling wide as he tried to get enough air. No doubt his eyes had already changed. That disgusting arousal curled in his gut, nearly drawing noise forth. 

He clamped down on himself. Deep breaths, the scent swirling around him as he did as instructed. Indulged. 

Skin scraped against concrete, bandaged hand pressing to his mouth. His legs shifted against the strong heat; what he wouldn’t indulge in. 

Not that he wasn’t experienced. There were a couple times in the last two years that he had met willing donors. It was typical for such meetings to turn into sex. He wasn’t against it, but his partners had to be consenting. It had to be fully willing or else he wouldn’t. Rape was defintely a line he refused to cross. 

But this heat was one he couldn’t indulge in for other reasons. Most of the donors he had met were of legal age. Both he and Kuroba were sixteen. Both male. Both never spoken to the other. That wasn’t a situation that encouraged him to try and act on his arousal. 

So he pushed it back, giving in to the other senses as that drugging scent dazed him. A figure was suddenly crouched at his side, fingers under his chin to turn his lolling head up. 

“I admit, I’ve never seen such a reaction to scent,” Akako purred, her fingers petting gently through his hair and over his skin, “It is quite a startling look on you, London detective. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone see you like this. Come down in your own time...”   
******  
“We still have some time until class,” she murmured, slipping Saguru’s watch back into his pocket. Her eyes softened, fingers still carding through his blonde curls as he started to come back to himself, “How was it?”

“Manageable,” he muttered, word slurred as he tried to get his cooling body back under control.

“And if he had been in front of you?” He shuddered at the idea, hating the images that crossed his mind. Akako seemed to understand. Her voice was soothing as she mused, “Then you’ll need more practice with getting used to his scent. Perhaps I can obtain something of his to help.” 

“Why are you-?” The question died on his lips, fangs shortening as the fire in his body started to go out. He couldn’t help but wonder if she could read his mind when she answered the unfinished inquiry. 

“You’re in my dominion now,” she explained quietly, “And you’ve done me a favor. Because of you I now know why Kuroba-kun is immune to my thrall.” His curiosity must’ve shown because she elaborated with prompting, “It is because of how he smells to you. He can’t be controlled by other supernatural beings because he’s already enthralled you.” 

The idea of being enthralled, of being owned, even by that amazing smelling human, left Saguru feeling unsettled. The witch laughed at his reaction, cooing like she was talking to a child as she comforted him, “Don’t worry. He has no control over you, and feeding off of him will not be binding in any way. His blood is simply the best you’ll ever taste.”

With the way she put it, he couldn’t help a small humm of pleasure at the idea. 

“Anyway,” she released him, standing and offering a hand, “Class will be starting soon. Are you ready to put your control to the test?”


	6. A Lunar Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As he listened, Nakamori-keibu managed to embarrass himself, again, and his name was being mentioned, “What are you doing, Hakuba-kun?” 
> 
> He smiled, turning in his kneel to face the reflective camera lens as he answered, “Just being conscientious. I’ve kind of got a personal stake in tonight's showdown.”

******  
Kuroba was already in the classroom when they entered. A few of the students took notice of Akako at his side, but he ignored their whispering when he was pushed in the thief’s direction. The witch gave him a pointed look before she made off toward a swooning group of boys at the front of the classroom. 

He sighed, nerves twisting as he watched the girl, Nakamori, approach her childhood friend. Saguru stepped forward, listening in on what she was saying as he drew closer. Something about tickets to a concert. He could clearly tell she wanted Kuroba to go with her but the boy seemed less than enthusiastic. 

She gave him the perfect in, “Excuse me?! Talk to me like that, and I won’t invite you!”

Saguru was quick to slip in, smooth words falling from his mouth before he even had to think about it, “It seems you’re in a spot of trouble, my lady.”

“H-Hakuba-kun,” both of the arguing students turned to stare at him, Nakamori’s face turning red as she realized she’d been caught. 

“I’m one hundred and eighty centimeters tall. I weigh sixty-five kilograms,” his introduction was an elaborate one, luring them into shock, “I was born August twenty-ninth, a Virgo. And if you don’t mind that I’m blood type A, I would like to go with you.” 

Just as with Akako, he gently took Nakamori’s hand, raising it to his lips for a soft kiss as he skillfully maneuvered his way between the two brunettes. Saguru could feel the glare on him from Kuroba. He pushed past it to address the girl he had no interest in instead, “A man who thoughtlessly refuses an offer from a lady isn’t worthy of you.”

Her face was flushed, navy eyes flickering uncertainly to Kuroba, trapped between deciding, “B-But...”

“You couldn’t even catch KID!” The first words spoken to him by the thief himself, “A mediocre detective and a mediocre inspector’s daughter! You deserve each other!” He chuckled sharply, the picture of nonchalance as he cruelly made fun of the two of them. 

Saguru smiled, but behind that he was looking over the teen. It seemed he was jealous, but still. How could he be so mean to his childhood friend? Or to someone he had never spoken to before? The thoughtless rudeness didn’t sit well with him as Nakamori spoke up in anger.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Apparently,” his tone was dry despite his friendly demeanor, “he’s partial to KID. Let’s do this,” he let his hand raise to encircle the girl’s shoulder, pulling her closer into his side as he challenged the phantom thief, “If I capture KID tonight, you invite me.” 

The scene was all wrong to anyone who looked at them from the outside. Despite the fact that he was supposed to be flirting with Nakamori-san, his eyes never left Kuroba. He hardly paid the girl any thought at all. His mind was on what the shop owner had said. 

He and Kuroba were supposed to be ‘compatible’. In every way. Yet the boy’s attitude was the sort he couldn’t stand. Why?

“That’s a good idea,” Nakamori admitted at his side, Kuroba staring at the two of them in shock, “If you catch KID, let’s go to the concert together.”

A twinge of emotion flickering under indigo eyes and then his rival was smirking, “Somebody like you is going to catch the unbeatable KID the Phantom Thief?”

Pride and a hint of excitement. Saguru was excellent at reading expressions. Even without risking scenting, he knew what Kuroba was hiding beneath his poker face. The idea of KID being excited for him attending his heist made him smile, genuine and softer as he bantered. 

“Unlike you, KID is a genius.” Lie. The school files had Kuroba listed as the smartest student enrolled, “It won’t be an easy job. And if I do happen to lose, I’ll leave escorting Nakamori-san to you.”

“Sounds like fun!” Kuroba declared, honestly enjoying the challenge. Something they could both agree on, “I don’t wanna go to the concert, but you’ve got a deal!”

Saguru tried to ignore the entertained cackle coming from the resident witch.  
******  
It hadn’t been hard to gain entry to the heist. Nakamori-keibu was a little hesitant, but a few words of praise and the man consented. Saguru would have to retrain the whole task force at this rate. 

Though he had decided that he wouldn’t attend another of KID’s heists, the challenge he had issued in the classroom belayed that. He hadn’t intended to get roped into such an annoying situation, but something about the way Kuroba acted rubbed him the wrong way. And then he had seen the same love for challenges that Saguru shared in the thief’s actions; the decision was taken from his hands. 

Crazily enough, KID’s target for the night was a statue. A large, ornately carved, stone statue. Of course Saguru knew what the real target was. 

The precious jewel nestled into the idol’s bracelet. It glinted off the moonlight filtering down through the glass roof as he kneeled in front of the statue’s base. Behind him he could hear the inspector being interviewed by a TV reporter. That night’s heist was being broadcast live, and he had been informed by an excited Nakamori that she would be watching. 

As he listened, Nakamori-keibu managed to embarrass himself, again, and his name was being mentioned, “What are you doing, Hakuba-kun?” 

He smiled, turning in his kneel to face the reflective camera lens as he answered, “Just being conscientious. I’ve kind of got a personal stake in tonight's showdown.”

If he had to guess, Nakamori wasn’t the only one watching. Kuroba was as well. KID was. He wanted the thief to try his best, so egging him on was to his benefit. Saguru wanted to see just what his classmate hid behind his mask. He wanted to know if the white witch was wrong. 

The cross over his chest dulled the excitement of the heist. Scents and sounds less overwhelming than they had been. As much as he hated letting the holy silver touch his skin, he had to admit it worked. Helicopter blades sliced through the air above them, reports crackling over officers’ radios as he made his way over to the confident inspector.

Nakamori-san was in the middle of bragging to the media about how his security was enough to scare KID off tonight when he slipped up behind the man to ask, “Inspector. How many guards are posted underground?”

“Nobody’s posted there,” Saguru fought not to work his jaw at the news, listening to him underestimate KID, “The basement’s protected by a myriad of sensors. Not even KID is stupid enough to try and get in that way.” 

It would be the truth for any other thief, but not this one. In between school and the heist he had done more research on the prowler in white. As much as Saguru didn’t want to, he had to say KID was on another level to any of the thieves he had caught in the past. He wouldn’t be easy prey. 

As he walked away from the inspector, he shook those thoughts away. KID was not prey. He was his quarry, his target. He wasn’t hunting this criminal, but thanks to Nakamori-san he knew exactly where he would be. It was almost too easy. 

The detective snagged a gas mask as he passed one of the officers by the door to the basement. He had permission to go where he wanted during the heist so none of them blinked an eye to him descending the stairs. His hand slipped into his coat’s pocket, pulling out the silver watch and clicking it open. 

Almost time. Four minutes until the thief’s appointed entry.

Saguru turned the corner, dropping into a stalk and letting his instincts out as he moved through the underground’s shadows. Up ahead he could just hear quiet muttering. KID was here. He crept around the next corner, sticking to the wall as he watched the white caped figure pull himself up a wire. He had been correct. 

“I made it!” KID crowed, a cheerful and excited tone that had been missing from Kuroba’s voice earlier that morning. It brought a small smile to Saguru’s face as he leaned back against the wall, gas mask in hand, “The rest is just putting on the finishing touch.”

That was his queue. Careful not to scent the suspended body several feet off the floor, he took a breath, and started laughing, “This is as far as you get, KID the Phantom Thief.”

He looked so shocked, definitely not used to his plans being guessed before the fact. When he turned to look back at Saguru, his face was half lit up by the basement’s dim lights. The side of Kuroba’s face that wore the monocle was hidden in shadow, but his left side he could see. 

The same curve of his jaw, the same height of his cheekbone, and Saguru’s eyes could see the same indigo blue staring down at him. The only real difference was that instead of messy brown hair, KID had groomed black hair. Suiting a showman. 

“W-What?!” KID’s poker face splintered, showing his emotions as he remained trapped between the security lasers and the detective.

“And now,” Saguru’s palm slammed down on the alarm to his left, raising the mask in victory, “why don’t we lower the curtain on this circus?” Pale vapor began to flood in through the vents, immediately recognized by his opponent.

“S-Sleeping gas?!” He’d truly managed to surprise KID tonight. The thought made Saguru’s smile widen as the thief spoke, “I see. The circus finale is a smoke screen.”

“In seventeen point fifty-eight seconds, this whole room will be filled with gas,” he told him, still perfectly assured, “Give it up. You lose.” He started to raise the mask to his mouth, aware of how fast his senses would send him to sleep even if they were dulled. 

“I don’t know about that!” A flash of movement from KID and then a hard playing card was knocking the mask from his hand. It hit the floor in front of him, white already leaping for it.

“No-” Saguru choked as the gas entered his throat, surprise locking his body down as he breathed in.

While he was frozen he realized KID had reached his fallen mask. More gas filled his lungs, that scent becoming fainter as his mind began to shut down. His vision swam while the sleeping agent began to activate. It weakened his muscles, body giving out under the effects. Before he could hit the ground though, arms were circling him. 

The last thing he saw besides the concrete ceiling was KID’s face behind his gas mask, looking down at him.  
******  
When Saguru awoke, it wasn’t to his room. It also wasn’t a hospital. He was lying on his back on one of the gallery’s cushioned seats. Clearly it was in a wing not involved in the heist, considering there were no officers here and the lights weren’t even on. His jacket had been removed and placed over him like a blanket by whoever had brought him here. He shifted, hand reaching up to kneed at his temple irritably.

The sleeping gas appeared to leave victims to its effects with a rather aching head. Or perhaps it was only the supernatural it affected in such a way. 

“Finally awake, London detective?” He froze. Turning his head to the side, his eyes found the white figure sitting comfortably on the sill of one of the hall windows. KID didn’t look at him, his eyes fixed on the shining lunar star outside. The thief’s tone was tinged with something he couldn’t quite discern in his waking state as he spoke, “I heard it was your idea to chain down the statue. Quite the foresight. Because of that, I failed to make off with my target.”

So KID hadn’t gotten the bracelet. But then, why was he still here? With a detective no less! 

“Forgive my rudeness for stealing you away in its stead,” the gentleman thief was acting so different from Kuroba. Saguru couldn’t help but find himself dazedly wondering which one was the real one. Maybe neither. Maybe both. Then he realized the teen was looking at him, face tilted to hide in shadows cast by the natural light as he took in the silent detective. 

“Ah-” He was waiting for an answer, “No, thank you for removing me from that room. I don’t believe prolonged exposure to sleeping gas is recommended.” 

Damn his proper upbringing! Here he was being polite to a criminal. A criminal that had helped him, but still! KID had him spinning in so many directions he couldn’t tell which way was up as he tried to pull himself into a sitting position. 

The movement brought a whole new wave of throbbing to his temples, making him flinch and close his eyes reflexively. 

“For you especially, it seems.” 

What did he mean by that? His eyes flickered, and he found himself flinching a second time when he discovered KID had moved to stand directly beside him.

“I couldn’t help but notice,” KID continued when he had his attention, “That you passed out rather fast. Far faster than you should’ve, at any rate.” 

Saguru could feel himself going pale, body tense as his mind followed what Kuroba could be inferring to. Had his vampirism surfaced while he was unconscious? It shouldn’t have been possible unless something specific triggered him though. His voice was shaken as he started to deny whatever was being implied, “I don’t-”

“Tantei-san,” his voice held warning, serious rather than playful as he demanded answers, “I expect to be informed of any detriments you may have that could be triggered during heists. Your participation these last two events were already a surprise, and if you expect to be allowed to attend again I need to know.” 

He stared up at him, speechless to the serious nature of the trickster. KID wasn’t talking about his vampirism. He was talking about illnesses or neuroses. The realization that he hadn’t been discovered made him feel faint, body swaying, still under the influence of the gas. 

A steadying gloved hand moved to his shoulder, holding him in place. He looked up to the tense, shadowed face above him, realizing with surprise that Kuroba actually cared. “Why?” The question was spat out by his tongue before he even thought about asking it, “Why do you care?” 

“Because, tantei-san,” the fingers squeezed down slightly, a comforting gesture he hadn’t expected from the other teenager, “I hardly enjoy the chase when my pursuers can’t follow. Do you think I want people to get hurt?” 

“No.” Whether he was honestly asking or not, Saguru wanted to answer. He was seeing more of what was under the mask; it made him feel warmer, “I think you want to put on a show, KID. Although I’m sure you have a serious reason for all this, you’ve never hurt anyone.” 

It was risky, he knew that, but he had to test it at some point, didn’t he? Gingerly, hesitantly, Saguru let his mouth open the barest amount, barely a slit between his lips. 

The smell surrounded him, so close to its source. He let himself indulge for a moment, closing his eyes and shifting his lips so he could hide the sharpening fangs behind them. His body swayed under the pleasure. KID’s grip on his shoulder tightened, the thief said something he couldn't focus on. The heat was softer than before. He held the scent in, trying to adjust to it by some small measure. 

His body was twisted to the side, a new hand meeting his other shoulder. The thrumm of a voice brought a stronger scent of chocolate, making him chuckle slightly, mouth opening the barest amount. Very carefully and very intentionally, he slowly cut off his supernatural sense of smell. It was far more gentle than it had been on the rooftop. The sleeping gas combined with his necklace held it all back so much it barely heated his body. 

“Tantei-san!” KID sounded alarmed. He let his eyelids open again, looking up at the thief holding his shoulders. Kuroba looked scared. His indigo eyes were wide with fear, staring down at him with a concern he hadn't expected. 

“My apologies, KID,” he gave the worried boy a small smile in apology, fangs shrinking back down as he reigned in his sated senses, “The gas is still affecting me quite heavily.” 

Finally responding seemed to help the other calm down. The grip on him loosened, but didn’t release, not yet, “You still haven’t answered my question about things I need to know.” 

A few lies would come to the same effect, right? “Well,” Saguru pretended to muse, thinking about how to phrase it in a way that would seem human, “I have Hyperesthesia. It means all my senses are heightened to some degree. As a result, the gas affected me far faster than it would most people.”

He seemed to buy it, the hands releasing their purchase finally as he took a step back. His hand reached up to catch the rim of his top hat, tipping it to the detective, “Anything else I should know?”

...A calculated risk. “Although I doubt it will come up,” Saguru started, shifting a bit more truthfully about what he was about to admit, “I don’t do so well around blood.”

For a moment KID just stared. He could tell he was surprised and trying to piece things together from what he’d just said. Before he could say something, “I know it sounds strange, considering my occupation, but I can manage if I’m expecting it. As I said, I highly doubt it will come up considering your opinion of people getting hurt at heists. Other than that, there is nothing.” 

“I see,” a bow, his cape fluttering with the movement as his rival prepared to depart, “I will strive to factor such things into my future plans then.” 

“Does that mean I’m allowed to attend again?” His legs swung as he slid them off the cushion, shoes clacking as they touched down on the tile. 

“Of course,” KID lifted his head, grin all teeth, “You’re interesting, tantei-san! I can’t wait to spar with you again. Until then~”

There was a swirl of white as he swept his cape over himself, no smoke this time for which Saguru was grateful, and then KID was gone. A smile split the lone detective’s face, instincts at peace and mind at rest. 

‘Kuroba thinks I’m interesting, huh?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so things start to shift! Go get 'em boys!


	7. Alley Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Text sent. He slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket, stepping around the corner just outside the alley-
> 
> And smacked straight into a familiar messy haired boy. In an instant he was clamping down on his senses.

******  
Considering the heist occurred on a Friday, Saguru had the weekend to himself. He spent that time getting dragged around by his father to be introduced to several branches of the police force. They were all quite welcoming to him and he was surprised to learn that he wasn’t the only high school detective operating in the area. 

Recently another teenager with the same occupation, a Kudo Shinichi, had gone missing. Before that he had been helping the police with crimes, stumbling across bodies every other week. When he asked what had happened to the boy, none of them could answer. All they knew was that he had disappeared after chasing after some men in black. It was strange, but there was a reason Saguru didn’t work missing persons. 

Those cases could drag on, grow cold, and turn rotten. Unless he was specifically called on to work such a case, he stuck to murders, thefts, and other crimes. 

Nakamori-san had taken a strange liken to him despite his initial rudeness to the older man. It was like the task force had decided to adopt him, and he spent nearly all of those two days off getting shown around by them. He learned everything they knew about KID, which was admittedly not a lot, and he also learned a bit more about the surrounding area. 

At first their sudden fixation on him was startling, until he heard one of them talking about the missing teenager again. Kudo Shinichi had had the same occupation as him, and apparently, there were rumors that someone was going after high school detectives. The task force seemed to be of the mind that he was in danger which had led to their initial protectiveness. 

He could smell it by the time he left the station on Sunday though. The sense of duty that had been driving them had shifted as they got to know him. At the end of those forty-eight hours, they had started to become honestly fond of him. 

It was strange. The London Yard had always hated having him around. Most of the officers were too prideful to accept help from a consulting detective. Especially one that was younger than them. Maybe it was just because the Japanese police were used to high school detectives? Still, their fondness was a mystery to him when he had done nothing to provoke it.  
******  
Saguru hummed irritably in the back of his throat as he licked away the last of the blood beading on his prey’s neck. A young woman, a child trafficker, pressed into the wet brick wall of an alley as he pulled back. Her blood tasted awful. Drugs and alcohol had tainted it in a way he hated.

One thing he had come to realize over his first two weeks in Japan was that the country had no lack of criminals. He’d always had to hunt for hours while he was in London, but here it rarely took more than an hour to find someone fitting his criteria for prey. 

He also hadn’t had to get involved in any territory disputes. Supernatural beings were far less abundant on these streets. The only ones he had come across were witches from Akako’s coven, who could sense her permission on the vampire, and a couple of weres that had been passing through. 

Saguru almost dared to call it peaceful. 

He hadn’t attended the last couple heists. The first one because it had been a set up to try and catch Kuroba specifically; his date with Aoko somehow proving his ‘innocence.’ The second because he had been forbidden by Akako. Apparently Kuroba had managed to offend the witch and he had wanted no part in that dispute. The other one he had missed took place that very night.

He had chosen not to attend due to another’s attendance. KID Killer. Edogawa Conan. Again, Akako had warned him away. She claimed the child was dangerous and anyone she named dangerous he would rather not be around. 

It bothered him somewhat. KID had specifically invited him to attend more heists, and he had missed all the subsequent ones. 

A sigh passed his lips, his prey shifting as she started to break the suggestion he had put her under. Leaning forward, he pushed more power behind his words as he spoke directly into her ear, “After your mind clears, you won’t remember me. You were walking home and got hit with a fainting spell. Your neck was cut when you fell.” 

She became pliant in his hands, eyes fogging over as his words took affect. Such a strong suggestion only worked when the prey was weakened. Like the state they were in after he fed. 

That was okay with Saguru. He hated using the power of suggestion. Controlling a person’s thoughts and actions left him feeling dirty. 

As he walked away from the half conscious woman, he pulled out his phone. His fingers moved quickly over the screen, typing a message sent directly to Inspector Megure. It had become a normal thing after they had been introduced during that first weekend. When he fed he would send whatever information about the criminal that became his meal. The police would investigate, and if they couldn’t catch them on their own he stepped in to help. 

Text sent. He slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket, stepping around the corner just outside the alley-

And smacked straight into a familiar messy haired boy. In an instant he was clamping down on his senses. 

“Kuroba-kun,” he said in surprise, skin crawling as he thought about how close the boy had been while he was feeding. Just like he had been told, he didn’t wear the necklace when he hunted. Currently it was in his bag. His bag which was hidden behind a trash can just a few feet away. 

“Hakuba-kun?” Kuroba looked just as ruffled, the detective belatedly realizing that the magician was just coming from the heist, “What are you doing wandering around alleys?” 

‘Please let the woman leave the other way,’ he thought, somewhat desperately as he started to move around his classmate. “I thought I heard someone in distress,” he lied, reaching for his bag and picking it up as he thought up an excuse, “but she was just a little drunk.”

His actions were smooth as he reached into the bag, fingers clasping around the holy metal kept in the inside pocket. A faint spark of pain signalled it working again, the second it met his skin senses were dulled. 

“And you just went looking?” Kuroba sounded baffled, watching as the detective reached up to clasp the necklace in its proper place, “What were you thinking?” 

“If someone really was in distress I couldn’t just walk away,” he huffed, turning to face the boy after he had safely tucked to cross into his shirt. 

“Yeah,” he sounded angry, at Saguru, “but what if it was a robber or something? What if they had a gun?”

“Then I would have been shot,” he sighed, not mentioning his own gun secured safely around his ankle out of sight. Kuroba looked shocked at that statement, looking the blonde up and down for a moment. 

“What’s with the necklace?” Bloody hell. Saguru had hoped that by doing it calmly it wouldn’t draw attention to the jewelry. Though considering Kuroba had never seen it in the two weeks they had known each other and he had put it on immediately after running into him, it could definitely be seen as strange. Another lie to weigh on his soul.

“Well I happen to be religious, Kuroba-kun,” used to be, “and I prefer not to wear my cross when I’m potentially running into violence.” 

Such a blasphemous lie. It practically stung his tongue, the metal seeming to heat up against his chest in offense. 

Apparently the idea of him being religious was not one the boy had considered. Yet another new fact for Kuroba to file away about him. 

“Are you just coming from the heist?” He asked, changing topics as he adjusted his bag’s strap over his shoulder. The question had KID wincing, but as far as he knew, Saguru had no clue about him being the phantom thief. He’d been sure to avoid inferring anything since they’d met because he would have no way to back it up. Not to mention it would only make it harder to get close to his weary classmate.

“Yeah, KID was amazing tonight!” He sounded honestly proud. Saguru was content with the thief’s actions that night as well. Rather than steal anything, he had returned items stolen by another thief and revealed a counterfeiting ring. It was hardly something he could argue with. “Why haven’t you been attending, Hakuba-kun?”

The question startled him. His classmate began walking down the road and he was quick to follow, steps falling into time beside him. To anyone else it would seem like a perfectly innocuous question. But this wasn’t a KID fan asking a detective why he wasn’t chasing the thief, like it appeared. This was KID himself asking him why he wasn’t attending his heists. Saguru's eyes flicked up to the dark sky, clouds still swirling from the rain that had been down pouring just a short time earlier. To warm for snow, but still to cold to call comfortable. His hands slipped into his pockets, finger tracing over the cool metal of his watch as he considered the question.

“Ah,” he took a moment, debating how to go about this. “Well, I assume you saw the last heist I attended when it was broadcast?” 

A humm of confirmation. 

“During the heist I was dosed rather heavily by sleeping gas,” he let his voice turn halting, as though embarrassed to admit such a thing, “After, Baaya was quite against me attending the heists. I have yet to convince her to let me go, and I’d rather not act against her.” 

He sensed Kuroba relax slightly beside him. Apparently his lie was believable. Why it mattered to the white thief, he didn’t know. “So you really look up to your Baaya, huh?” 

The personal question was unexpected, but not unwelcome. Thinking of the elderly woman that had practically raised him brought a warm smile to Saguru’s face. He hardly noticed Kuroba watching him as he answered, “Yes. She basically raised me when my parents were unavailable. In every way other than blood, she is my grandmother. And she worries, oh so terribly for me. My profession has always been a strain on her, something I regret.” 

“Then why do you do it,” the brunette sounded honestly curious as they stopped at a crosswalk, watching the traffic pass, “Why chase criminals? Why put yourself in so much danger?” 

It was something Saguru had been asked so many times in his life. It was something he had so many answers to. Depending on the person asking the question, the answer differed. Some people wanted to hear certain things. Kuroba, Kuroba would only want the truth. Which he got. 

“Because I want to help people.” The crux of everything. The keystone of his life. Saguru wanted to help. Everyone. Anyone he could. No matter the risk. “I’m good at solving crimes, at bringing people to justice,” a smile, softer, smaller, but more genuine than most he let pass on his face, “So it’s what I do. And it’s worth it. Every bit has been worth it.” 

His classmate didn’t seem to know what to say to that. A smile graced his face, a knock of shoulders that helped bring Saguru out of his sappy mood, and they walked on in silence. It wasn’t awkward, but comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The timeline is a little misconstrued here. Akako met Kuroba before Saguru came to Japan, and the clock tower heist also happened before that. So Conan is now in this timeline and Shinichi is already missing. Honestly, Saguru doesn't show up in a lot of heists so I'll probably make up a few heists to fill in the blanks. I also know that canonically they are pretty much all seventeen, but I always think of them as sixteen so by the power of magic headcannon let it be!


	8. Chilly Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You know they say you can tell a person’s personality by what flavor of ice cream they like?”

******  
“Want to join us, Hakuba-kun?” Nakamori-chan’s invite had been sudden. As he was packing his bag up after class, she cornered him with Kuroba at her side. 

Perhaps it wasn’t as sudden as it could’ve been. In the week since he and Kuroba had run into each other after the heist, things had shifted in the class’s dynamic. He had found himself pulled into conversations between the two childhood friends quite frequently. Opinion requested and skills demonstrated many times. 

Akako had naturally been pulled in with him, her friendship with Nakamori growing even further. Saguru didn’t miss the uneasy glances Kuroba kept sending the witch’s way though, and he somehow wound up the neutral buffer between the two. Nakamori’s first response was always to clock her friend upside the head with a mop she pulled from nowhere. 

The fact that she was so ready to defend someone was admirable, but the detective preferred not to deal with an accidental homicide involving his classmate. 

“Forgive me,” he responded to the invite, head tilting slightly, feeling the metal shift under his shirt, “but I didn’t quite catch where I am being invited to?” 

“Ah,” the girl blushed, navy eyes shifting to the side in embarrassment, “Aoko wanted to invite you to join Bakaito, Akako-chan, and her to get ice cream by the park! She understands if you’re busy with a case...”

Her voice trailed off, feet shuffling as she lost the confidence she had started with. Saguru could hardly blame her. Whenever anyone had invited him out in the three weeks since he started attending Ekoda High, he had fed them an excuse about working and left it at that. 

Today, however, he might be able to risk it. A yakuza had sated his thirst the night before; a little snack on his way home from the police station. His instincts were at peace this evening, his senses almost naturally held down. 

He’d had a lot of practice recently.

Cautiously he let his eyes shift to the also invited witch. Her lips were turned up a smile, a small nod sent his way. 

“No,” he smiled, returning back to the quiet Nakamori-chan, “I’ve wrapped up my cases for today. If that is your wish, I’d be happy to join all of you.”

“Whatever,” Kuroba cut in, shouldering his bag and heading for the door, “Let’s just hurry! The truck is only open for another hour.” 

“Bakaito! Don’t be rude or Aoko will brain you-” There bickering drifted peacefully into the background as the two supernaturals followed. Initially their loudness had hard to handle, but with the necklace and a bit of exposure it had simply become normal. 

“You’ve been doing better,” Akako purred quietly, talking just quietly enough that no one could overhear, “That practice has done you good.” 

Not that it mattered. Sure, Saguru could handle a faint whiff of Kuroba’s scent now without trying to jump him, but the point was moot because of the cross. A little too much scent and he still had to distance himself. Completely forgetting about what would happen if he properly scented the boy without the holy silver against his skin. 

For now he was adjusting.

“Thank you, Akako-sama,” he responded, nodding his head slightly without looking at the beautiful woman, “I wouldn’t have been able to do it if you weren’t there to control me.”

“Just keep working at it,” she chuckled, low and suggestive, “If you get close enough to him you could very well skip a couple steps.” 

He didn’t want to think about it. The idea of sleeping with Kuroba was not one he wanted to entertain. Sure, the teen was physically attractive. But Saguru refused to make any advances towards him when his own reasons were so cruel and selfish. Wanting a person for their blood and body was hardly a relationship he would indulge in.

No matter what, should that chance ever arise, he wanted it to be the other boy that brought it up, and he wanted everything to be layed bare. Anything differently would be too monstrous for him to handle.  
*******  
“You know they say you can tell a person’s personality by what flavor of ice cream they like?” Another of the younger Nakamori’s tangents. Often she seemed to come up with a new speel based on something she read from the internet. This was the first time Saguru had been a participant though, and he was mildly curious about how this would go. 

“There’s no way that’s accurate,” Kuroba glowered around his chocolate spoonful, still nursing his pride after a particularly hard mop attack. 

She huffed in response, pointing her own spoon at him threateningly. The chair she was sitting on creaked as she shifted, beginning her deductions, “Chocolate. You lead a life of joy and self-love. You have strong opinions, but are always open to experiment and learn new things. You like homey and cozy things, and enjoy traveling for the thrill of a new adventure.” 

Her three audience members debated the evaluation silently amongst themselves. Saguru hated that it was actually sort of accurate to how the magician liked to act. While he couldn’t speak to how he lived, it was still pretty on the ball. A horrible course of deduction. As a detective, his mind itched to point out the inconsistency. Example; he had picked his ice cream not because he liked it but because it had caught his interest. 

“Akako-chan, you got caramel swirl,” she continued, moving her spoon to point to the witch across the table next, “and that means you have a deep and mysterious soul. You love meditation and challenges. Cats are your favorite animal and you love the color black. People might be intimidated by you, but you’re actually a very kind person once they get past that.”

The last sentence sent Kuroba spluttering, choking on his ice cream dramatically. Saguru wanted to slam his head into the table. Why was this somewhat accurate? 

“Hakuba-kun,” he slid lower in his seat, no longer interested in the icy treat he’d been enjoying. This wouldn’t work. He’d never even tried this ice cream before! “You like cherry sherbert,” wrong, “and that means you are very in tune with your body. You listen to and respect yourself, even when people make fun of you or it’s hard. You know what you want and you chase it. The outdoors are a pleasure to you, and you love spending time in gardens!” 

She finished sounding almost triumphant. Saguru really wanted to smash his head into the glass table, but he was afraid it would shatter. Why? It was such a half-assed way to deduce someone’s personality. How was it working?!

“I think you broke him,” he heard Kuroba mutter, a finger poking his shoulder testily, “Hey, Hakuba-kun! Are you still functional or did the irrationality short circuit your genius mind?”

“That was quite accurate, Aoko-chan,” Akako’s voice sounded joyful, filled with teasing as she said, “Did you really find such a thing on the internet?” 

“Hmmm? No, Aoko made it up.” 

THUNK.

“You did break him,” Kuroba decided, the slurp of a tongue as he devoured another spoonful of chocolate. Saguru was grateful for the necklace. His strength would’ve shattered glass just as he feared otherwise. Akako began cackling beside him as the inspector’s daughter looked at all of them in confusion.

“Hakuba-kun?”

“I’m fine, Nakamori-chan,” he muttered around the fogged up glass, “Carry on please.”  
******  
All in all it had been a rather pleasant afternoon. Saguru had never spent time with peers outside of requirements. That event had proven quite an experience. One he wouldn’t mind repeating. 

As he entered the kitchen of his home, he frowned upon noticing a strange envelope sitting atop a pile of mail on the counter. 

“Baaya?” He addressed his caretaker as she began to go about her way preparing supper, “What is this?” 

“Hm? Oh, that was in the post for you this morning,” she glanced back as he picked up the mail, “It was addressed to you specifically.”

Curiosity got the better of him. Heading out of the kitchen and back to the entry hall, he pulled open the side table’s drawer there. Picking up the letter opener, he sliced it neatly open and pulled out the paper within. 

His eyes moved over the words, a smile parting his lips as he took in the apparent invitation he had received. This was going to be fun...

“Baaya,” he called out, hand catching his chin in thought as he lined up the time, “Please call the school to inform them I will be absent the next two days.”

“Is something happening, young master?” Her head poked around the corner, looking mildly concerned until she saw his excited expression. 

“It would appear an acquaintance has invited me to a detective case gathering,” his smile only grew as he heard the sharp bird cry coming from deeper in the house, “And I intend to accept.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of fun. The ice cream personality things were just something I found online. Next up is the Detective Mansion Gathering! Again, the timeline is very messed up here so I'll just be fitting things in wherever. Please ignore the timeline for Detective Conan because it most likely will not match up to here.


	9. Sunset Mansion Gathering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few more murmurs, the other detectives drawing conclusions on their own. “Do you see now?” The recording asked, “That this was the mark of the great association that died mysteriously half a century ago; the Crow Association...”

******  
Considering the hidden message in his invitation, Saguru wasn’t taking any chances. Baaya had not been invited to attend the gathering. She merely drove him to the large mansion in the mountains, and left. 

Not that they hadn’t discussed several contingency plans in the case that something happened. He was as thorough as he was excited to see what was in store for the night. 

As one of the first to arrive at the ‘Sunset Mansion’, as the location was called, he was quickly led to the room that would be his during the stay. The timid maid didn’t seem to know what she was getting into, quiet and mild as she answered the questions he directed her way. 

“You are permitted to explore the building,” she explained just before she left, “The other guests will be arriving shortly though. Please try to meet up with everyone in a timely fashion, if you don’t mind.” She bowed at the waist, backing out of the room and closing the door behind her. 

They had been informed they would be staying the night. Saguru hadn’t brought anything extra however, already guessing the intentions of the evening. 

His cross was hanging around his neck heavily, a precaution considering who had invited him. 

Carefully, he opened his mouth partially. Dulled senses roamed, taking in the room and making him swallow temptingly. Everything smelled like blood here. It was very faint, years old. The sheer quantity added up though. If he hadn’t fed before leaving, the smell might’ve driven him to lose himself. 

He shut his mouth, breathing out through his nose as he calmed down. His fists clenched and unclenched. The lazy swirling of his vampirism settled down slowly, already sated enough that such an old scent of blood couldn’t bring it forward. 

Watson, his goshawk hawk, squawked loudly from her cage. She had startled the maid upon first meeting, as she did most people. Saguru whistled lowly, approaching the table he had set her on with soft steps. She calmed, twittering happily to finally have his attention. He reached out to slip the latch on the cage. 

Barred metal swung forth, door opening to free her. Wind whistled past the detective’s face as she flew out. Her claws found purchase on the back of one of the antique bed posts, preening as she watched him covertly. 

Saguru recognized her worry when he saw it, chuckling in response and cooing to comfort the concerned bird. She had been a gift from his father two years before. A way to celebrate him returning home. The hawk seemed to recognize his supernatural nature, and she had helped him more than once when he was still learning how to juggle his new state of living. 

“Now then, Watson,” he looked around the room slowly, trying to decide where to look first, “Let’s see why KID thought to invite us...”  
******  
“...guess the owner of this blood...wasn’t just one or two people...” Saguru looked down at the red haired woman, spraying down one of the old wood banisters as she spoke. The rest of the guests had arrived, and it was time for him to make his entrance.

“Luminol...” His voice echoed slightly around the foyer as heads turned up to watch his descent down the red carpet stairs, “When sprayed over blood or remains of blood it makes them a purple color. An interesting thing you have, Ms. Ex-doctor.”

Watson flew past him, free in the open space to alight on the banister just beside the woman, “What? A hawk?!” He smirked slightly at her reaction, enjoying the element of drama his companion always seemed to employ. 

“Oh, I’m sorry to scare you,” he whistled, stretching his arm out as his bird reacted to the nonverbal command, “It’s probably because she’s travelled around England with me, and she knows the smell of blood.” 

Watson lowered herself, claws catching around the thick leather glove he had pulled over his left hand. Her yellow eyes looked over each of his fellow guests eerily as he continued to speak, “I’m glad I decided to attend tonight. This mystery is an interesting one. Quite the disaster, that had been hidden for years and only been heard about in rumors. After forty years of time had passed, we have gathered here. A good opportunity for any self respecting detective.” 

“D-disaster?!” A teenage girl standing by the door seemed startled by the information. ‘Not a detective,’ he realized. The older man at her side seemed more calm, but not by much. Then Saguru saw the smaller child at their side, and he had to fight not to react. Instead he continued his show, turning to gently stroke Watson’s chest as he mused aloud.

“Well, there is one more reason I came here...Isn’t that right, Watson?”

The maid was quick to dismiss them back to their own business as she showed the new arrivals to their own rooms. Saguru did as she suggested and made his way to the game room. On the way, he stopped in one of the ornate hallways. Checking that no one was watching, he approached one of the dirty windows and pushed it open. 

“Now girl,” he whispered, a twinge of teasing behind his words, “Just like I asked.” 

Watson lept from her perch on his glove, wings spreading as she took flight out into the gathering dark and rain. Whether there would be time to enact his plan before the night’s main event took place or not, he would have to wait and see.  
******  
Billiard balls clanked as they struck one another, the cue resting comfortingly in his hand as he played. 

“Whoa, you do good for a young guy,” the older detective he was playing against, Harufumi Mogi, seemed impressed. It was only natural. Saguru had a pool table at the estate and he played whenever the mood struck him. Not to say he was a master, he flinched as his next ball missed the mark he’d been aiming for. 

The others all seemed to be settling in, playing cards and getting to know each other as the night grew darker. He frowned, fingers reaching into his suit jacket to run over his watch. Would Watson succeed? 

A faint bird cry from outside a short time later confirmed that she had. A small smile threatened to move his lips, but he pushed it back as he excused himself from the game. Lying that he had to use the bathroom, he left the room quickly. The animal call came again as a dark shadow swooped past the hall windows when he passed. 

He picked up his pace, rushing to reach the front foyer again and pulling open the stained mansion doors. Soft rain still fell steadily, but he was dry under the porch roof. As he watched, a shape flew into the cover with him. The doors clicked shut behind him as he approached the bird now standing proudly on the wood plank flooring.

“Well done girl.” One of her clawed feet scratched into the rough planks, the other raised and resting on a small white creature. Saguru cooed softly; the same he did for Watson. He felt bad about scaring the smaller bird like he had. His hawk released her captive, hopping back to watch her owner handle the shivering dove. 

“Sorry,” he murmured, running his fingers soothing across it’s feathers. He shifted, sitting down smoothly on the porch as he calmed the shaking animal, “I just wanted to speak with your master. She wasn’t going to eat you. Watson only eats land animals.” 

Though it couldn't understand human words, his tone of voice seemed to help. The shaking faded after a moment. Then he had the small dove trying to burrow into his suit; to slip inside his jacket as though he was the magician, not KID. Imagining that made him laugh. Clear as a bell in the storming evening, smiling happily as he battled the two needy birds. 

Watson had joined the dove in seeking his warmth. She hopped to his side, beak nudging into his waist as she cooed and shook the rain from her feathers. Saguru tweeted at the two. Pursing his lips to mimic the loving sound he always heard from his bird. 

“It would appear my dove likes you, tantei-san.”

His head shot up, eyes immediately finding the white thief leaning calmly against one of the porch’s pillars. “KID.” 

“You sound surprised,” a hint of amusement that made Saguru flush as he realized what the phantom had seen, “I thought this was you wanting to talk? Your hawk did kidnap my dove after all.”

“I apologize for that,” he held the white bird out to her owner, watching with a renewed smile as she flew happily to him. Excited chirps left her orange beak, nudging as she worked her way back into the actual magician’s jacket, “I wasn’t sure how to contact you.” 

“Watson, was it?” KID completely bypassed the immediate matter, nodding in greeting to the hawk still pressing affectionately into her owner’s side, “I was unaware you had such a friend.” 

It wasn’t mocking. He sounded honestly warmed by the fact. Perhaps that was natural though, considering his own affinity with his doves. “She only arrived in Japan a week ago,” Saguru told him, humming happily as he let the thief distract him, “I wanted to settle in before I had her follow.”

“Did you think you wouldn’t like Japan?” Again not the point of this conversation. He didn’t mind though. As long as they finished before it was time to attend dinner. 

“Perhaps...I’m not certain,” Saguru let his mind drift, eyes falling shut as he remembered his thoughts before moving, “Things were...hectic. I needed a change of scenery, but I didn’t know if Japan would be the right change.”

“And now?” His voice was quiet, gentle, coaxing. It surrounded Saguru and lulled him to a peaceful mind. 

“I think I like Japan,” he whispered, letting his eyes flutter open to look up at the watching thief. A small, honest smile was across Kuroba’s face. Though it was hard to see the emotions in indigo irises in the dark, he thought he saw something of happiness pass his face. 

Without thinking, completely by instinct, he opened his mouth to take in a small bit of scent. The thief’s smell of bird feathers was stronger now, probably because of his dove. All the other scents mixed together in the background. Mind numbingly comfortable as he focused on the emotions KID had for the moment. 

He had been right. Kuroba smelled faintly like happiness behind the feathers. Another, more complex, layer of emotions ranged behind that, but Saguru hadn’t taken in enough to dissect that. He just let himself hover on happiness, smiling up at the thief contently for just a while longer. 

“I’m glad to hear it,” KID tilted his hat, bowing a slight amount as he returned to a more serious facade, “And I hope it remains as such. Don’t forget you’re always welcome to attend my shows, tantei-san. Now, what was it you wanted to discuss?” 

Saguru pulled himself back down to earth, getting to his feet and returning to his position as detective. “Right. About this mansion...”  
******  
There were a few suspicious glances cast his way as they were led to the dining room. It was as expected. He had spent a little while longer apart from the group than he had intended, and they clearly didn’t buy the lie that he had been looking around a bit more. 

The suspicion was moot at any rate, when they stepped into the dining room. At the far end of the stretched table was a masked figure. A white cloth hid their face from view, voice monotone as it spoke out upon their entry, “The six detectives! Thank you for joining me at the Sunset Mansion. Please, sit down.” 

Everyone began to find their places, picking seats based on small papers with their names resting in each setting. The dining ware was of good quality and seemed the same all around. Saguru pulled the chair he came to and sat. 

“The reason I called you here,” the head of the table continued, “was because I wanted you to find the treasure hidden somewhere in this mansion. And for you to find the treasure hidden for years by risking your life...”

“O-our life?” The middle aged detective he now knew to be Mouri Kogoro, cast a quick glance to his charges, seeming about to say something when a loud, BAM sounded. Saguru twisted in his seat, looking out the dining hall window, sure that the sound came from an explosion.

“W-what was that sound?!” The cook detective was on his feet in an instant, looking outside as well as their host answered. 

“I just made sure you wouldn’t run away.” 

“You got rid of our cars?” Mouri-san seemed to understand. Saguru tensed as he listened to the false person continue to speak. He knew there was no one beneath that mask. His dulled hearing could just pick up the faint humm of machinery in the recorded voice as it started to paint a fake picture. 

“The police and you detectives are always after me...” Not true. The orchestrator of this meeting was trying to frame KID. To frame Kuroba. That didn’t sit right with Saguru, his fists clenching under the table, “Sometimes I want to be the one after you. Well anyway, I dropped the bridge you passed on the way here. You wouldn’t be able to run away even if you had a car.”

Plan C it was then.

“This is a game where you must find the treasure, and I will only give the one who finds it half of the treasure and the way out of here. So what do you think of my game?” Harufumi-san stood as the robot finished speaking, hand reaching for the ridiculous hood angrily. 

“Humph. I can’t stand it. People who hide themselves and run away like you!” Just as he knew there to be, it was not a person behind the white. It was a speaker embedded in a black mannequin. 

“Now, you cannot find the treasure if you’re hungry. Let’s eat, your very last meal.” Harufumi huffed, cursing as he threw down the mask. 

“Who did this?!” Mouri-san demanded, confusing Saguru. The rumors claimed the man to be a renown detective. He had known who really invited him to this gathering with only a glance at the letter he’d received. Could the rumors be exaggerated? Apparently he wasn’t the only sceptic. 

“Oh,” the red head, Ikumi Soda, leaned across the table to take in the famous sleeping detective, “the great Detective Mouri-san didn’t know who called us here? It was on the invitation,” still he seemed confused, “the ‘Phantom’s Child that God abandoned’.” 

Harufumi continued for her, detectives piecing together the clue perfectly, “A phantom is something that doesn’t exist. Almost like something magical.”

“Child was written with a ninben mark,” the elderly woman two seats down from Saguru pointed out, “something only used for animals. You know, like for dogs and horses?” 

“The child that God abandoned stands for the goat,” the cook, Shukuzen Ogami, glared at Mouri-san, judging his capabilities heavily, “you know like the story in the bible. In this case they mean a baby goat. In English a goat is called ‘goat’, but this is what they call a baby goat...” 

Saguru smiled, finishing the collective deduction victoriously, “KID.” 

“What?” Mouri-san was a very loud man. His palms struck the table as all the pieces were layed out for him to discover. Saguru thought back to his earlier meeting with the thief, smiling as he continued to help the apparently overestimated detective. 

“You’d probably understand if I said it this way,” he clasped his hands together, elbows resting on the tablecloth as he leaned forward, “KID the Phantom Thief.” 

There was general surprise from both of the Mouris, but Saguru didn’t miss the third member of their group. The small boy, Edogawa Conan. KID Killer. Akako had warned him away and he was starting to think she was onto something. Rather than be surprised, or excited, or reacting in any way as a child would, Edogawa smirked. 

The London detective didn’t have time to read into it as everyone else joined in their own bits on the thief. Practically all of them could be taken as compliments though. Saguru knew that wherever KID was listening from, he was preening. 

“Yes, his ability to get anything he aims for is almost like magic...”

“So many disguises and voices that he always frustrates the police...”

“The main dish that us detectives are always drooling and waiting for...”

“The thief that everyone wants to put in jail...”

“And,” Saguru felt the twinge of challenge rising in him as he revealed his own experience with the other teen, “the criminal of the only crime I wasn’t able to solve.” The only case he’d failed to close in his whole life. Granted, he’d only had two attempts thus far, but things had changed. With KID’s special circumstances to him it was likely he would never close the case. “People see his white cape in the moonlight, and call him Kaitou KID.”

“Does that mean that Kaitou KID invited us here?” Mouri-san again proved his ineptitude. How was he so famous when he was so slow?

Saguru listened as the other detectives at the table discussed the thief inviting them to the gathering. His skin itched when they spoke about Kuroba setting up their deaths. This wasn’t the other teen’s work. Yet they were all treating him like some murderer instead of the harmless performer that he was!

The maid interrupted their incorrect assumptions, wheeling in a food cart. There was no way he was eating any of that. 

“Please enjoy,” she asked as she began to serve the plates. 

“Oh?” The gray haired elder at Saguru’s side of the table, Furuyo Senma, spoke up suddenly, looking at the younger worker out of the corner of her eye, “Did the master give you the order of giving out the meal too?”

“Oh, yes,” she fidgeted, short hair falling to cover her face as she ducked her head, “I was told to serve clockwise around the table.” 

“I don’t like it,” Furuyo-san sighed, adjusting her spectacles, “The game’s just started and he calls it a last meal. It’s kind of depressing if you ask me.”

“Hahaha,” the cook of the food chuckled nervously, pointing to himself as he said, “There isn’t any poison in it! I made the meal myself.” 

Saguru had to point out the obvious matter he hadn’t addressed, “Yes, but our forks, knives, spoons, wine glasses, and tea cups were all here from the start. Our seats were chosen by these little signs...” He picking up the paper, sighing as he played along with their suspicions, “Well, I don’t think KID would kill anyone but he may have set a joke that we can’t laugh at. It would be better if we wiped our utensils down before eating.”

“It wouldn’t matter, and I wouldn’t want things to go the way he wants them to,” Harufumi pushed his chair back, green suit wrinkling with the movement as he motioned around the table, “Why don’t we just pull straws and decide where to sit?”

“But, if we end up at the plate with poison-” For the first time Saguru agreed with the slow detective. Risking their lives through a gamble was not something he would participate in. 

He swallowed thickly, hiding the movement by turning as they all got to their feet. If he used his senses there was a chance that he could detect any poison in the food. Chances were that he would have to scent a lot though, and if Kuroba was somewhere in the room...

As he sat back down in a random seat, he decided to take those chances. Before anyone had the chance to start eating, he let his instincts loose. 

The strong aroma of food, emotions, and people flooded over him. Underlying it all was that old smell of blood soaked into the mansion’s structure. His nails dug into the cloth of his suit pants, all the scents already beginning to give him a headache. Worse still, Kuruoba’s scent was somehow overtaking all the others. It was like the intensity of his classmate’s smell was all he could focus on, mind growing heddy as his body warmed.

Before he could smell any poison, he yanked back his released senses. It had been a mistake. Saguru shifted in his seat, keeping his head low as he tried to control his breathing. Only a few seconds longer than he usually risked and he was already starting to fall. 

This further proved that his practice of trying to get used to the scent was still not far along. A half a second, hold in the scent, and it was comfortable. Any longer than that, even with the cross, and he started to get lost. Then there was what had happened that first day on the school roof. Scenting the boy for a minute, and he was completely high off the heavenly smell. 

His fingers trembled as he lifted the fork beside his plate, trying to focus on the meal and not on the slight heat coiled in his gut.  
*******  
“Well how is it? This last meal I have given you?” The recorded voice came again from the mannequin as they finished eating, “Now I shall tell you why I really used up all my money to invite you. Why this was the place I chose for the game to take place.”

The speaker directed their attention to the dining ware most of them had cleared. Not Saguru though. Practically his whole meal remained untouched, his stomach still tossing from the earlier idiotic decision to try and smell poison. He had already guessed Kuroba was in the room, and he had done it anyway! When this case was over he would have to see if Akako could strengthen the dulling powers of his cross further. 

“A bird?” He heard the young girl ask quietly, looking to his own knife. 

“Hey, isn’t this a crow?” 

A few more murmurs, the other detectives drawing conclusions on their own. “Do you see now?” The recording asked, “That this was the mark of the great association that died mysteriously half a century ago; the Crow Association...”

“Crow Association?!” Mouri-san needed to stop reacting so loudly. Saguru’s newly formed headache was encouraging him to react like Nakamori-chan would and brain the inane man. 

“Not only on the plates. The door, handles, floor, chess pieces, and even the playing cards bear the mark of the crow,” Saguru frowned, trying to draw forth what he remembered about the rumored group, “Which means this mansion is built and owned by the Crow Association. Or should I say, was built and owned...forty years ago, in this mansion, a tragedy so cold that even blood would freeze happened here.”

“You smart detectives must have realized when you stepped into this cold place, all the remains of blood on the walls and floor,” something Saguru could hardly miss. All that blood had made him woozy when combined with the full scents of the dining hall. “Yes, that was forty years ago when this mansion was still as beautiful as ever. But one night all the famous members were called to the mansion. They said it was to honor the ‘member of the association’ who had passed away a ninety-nine years old, but it was really nothing more than an auction to get rid of the priceless artwork that he had been collecting. There were over three hundred things for sale and the auction was set to last for three days. It was on the second night...that two men soaking wet came to the mansion in the middle of the event. They shivered of cold as they said this, ‘We were lost in the woods and the sun had gone down. When we looked up we saw this mansion so we came up the road. Please let us stay until the storm ends.’”

“At first they were refused, but then, instead of money the two men gave out leaves in exchange. The leader of the auction wrapped the leaf in paper and smoked it like a cigarette as the two men instructed. They then gave more out to the auction guests, and soon there was smoke from the leaf all around the room.”

“Hey,” Mouri-san tensed, “speaking up in the pause between recordings to ask, “That leave wasn’t-” He didn’t finish before the story continued, but they all had a pretty good idea of what had been given out. Maruana. 

“After a time, one of the guests screamed as though he had seen a ghost and snatched the antique vase he had bought as he started running around the mansion. One of the women kept on weeping until she ran dry of tears, and another man used his own pen to start gouging open his wrists. After a while, a fight was started over the rare items of the auction. People started trying to kill each with weapons available for sale...The mansion had become like a portrait of Hell. Then, when the sun had risen, leaving eight dead bodies and many dying people, the two men disappeared with the auctioned items...” 

The story drew to a close. The speaker fell silent and questions began to fall. “But why don’t we know about such a big incident?”

“There probably was someone in the people that died,” Ogami started, “that was too famous, too important, to be mentioned.”

“I see,” Saguru added his two scents more for show than anything. He was beginning to feel irritated thanks to the strong thud against his temples, “If that person was in a place where you can’t even tell who killed who, then before anyone knew about it, it would be better to get rid of the case all together.” 

“That was probably what the two wanted to happen,” Harufumi guessed.

“Yes, what a delicious story,” Ikumi smiled, eyes scanning the people ringing the table carefully.

“So now you know?” Saguru frowned at the way the voice sharpened threateningly, “The reason I called you here. That is because I wanted you, the detectives, to act out what happened on that night. The killings over treasure. Though I am aware it is hard to search when you don’t know anything. Now, I shall give you a little hint.”

“A hint?” Mouri’s daughter asked, looking around worriedly. 

“The night that the two devils arrived...” Saguru straightened up, pushing aside his discomfort to focus. Riddles he knew. He was good at word puzzles. “The devils possessed the people, and the king clutched to his treasures and ran around the room...The queen cried for forgiveness and cried into a goblet, and the knight drew his own blood...”

“Isn’t that the story we just heard?” The girl asked uncertainly. 

“It took a long time, you know. To make a hint of the treasure in this mansion. Do you not think this is the perfect start for all the killings that are going to happen...”

“How silly,” Ikumi sighed, laying her palms on the table, “If you want us to kill each other instead of our opponent, and also make us want to kill...” 

Her implications were clear. They were under no true obligation to compete. Alas, their host was thorough in planning. “You cannot suddenly drop out of the game,” they were informed, “Because you are all under the spell that I have casted upon you.”

He tensed at those words. Was there a chance the true culprit holding them here was a witch? If that was true, then things could get far more dangerous rather quickly. 

“Now, just as the incident forty years ago, when someone lets out a deadly scream it is the beginning. Listen. The one who finds the treasure must come to the fourth floor in the middle of the mansion and type the answer into the computer placed there. As I have promised, half of the treasure and way to escape is yours.”

Harufumi sighed, getting to his feet as his chair screeched back over the wood floor, “Sorry, but I’m leaving. I don’t care that much for treasure.”

“But how are you going to-” 

“Humph! This isn’t a deserted island in the middle of the ocean,” he waved his hand, the epitome of casualness as he began to walk toward the dining room door, “If I’m lucky someone will find me while I’m roaming around the forest. Bye now, my fellow detectives!”

Saguru flinched as suddenly Ogami-san, sitting beside him, leapt up from his chair. He pushed his own chair back from the table, hearing it clatter to the floor as the cook detective screamed. More chairs scraped against the ground as everyone jumped to their feet around the table. Ogami hit the ground all at once, writhing for a moment before growing still. To still. Deadly still.

He reacted quickly, dropping beside the no longer moving man to press his fingers against his neck. Waiting. Nothing. His hand reached into his pocket on reflex, silver watch flicking open to check, “Pulse stops at ten-thirty-four pm. He’s gone,” he reported to the room of hovering detectives. 

“I can see his lips and nails turning purple,” Ikumi reported, pulling back her purple dress to crouch beside the dead man’s side, “And I smell the almond scent of cyanide.” 

“Does that mean there was cyanide in his tea?” Harufumi asked, turning to where Senma-san was already dunking an old cold into the now cold drink.

“I don’t think so,” she reported, voice hoarse with age, “This coin isn’t turning shiny. I guess he didn’t die because of this tea.”

“Then how?!” Mouri-san demanded, again to loudly. Saguru got to his feet and took a step back, casting an irritated look to the useless man. 

“Now the game has begun,” that infuriating monotone voice rang out over them, “For Detective Shukuzen who gave up his life for the beginning, you should try to find the treasure...”

“You-” Harufumi rushed the stupid doll, lifting it from the chair in anger, “Stop fooling around!” The head of the mannequin detached with the motion, clattering against the ground loudly. Two tapes fell from the hollow innards, revealing how the voice was being delivered. 

“It looks like they’re connected to a timer,” Senma pointed out, lifting the two objects safely within her handkerchief. 

“Were the times to serve the meals decided too?” Saguru turned to the maid to ask. 

“Yes,” she looked shaken, eyes wide in fear as she looked down at the dead body not far from her feet, “The ordables, soup, main, and desert were all decided.” 

“Then the criminal wasn’t talking while watching us eat,” Ikumi pointed out, glaring at the tape like it could give her answer, “He recorded it from the start.”

“Well now we know two things,” a new voice spoke. Saguru turned suddenly, shocked to find the young Edogawa staring at each of the other guests with an intensity that even unsettled him as he spoke in a voice that was to mature to come from a child’s mouth, “The fact that the criminal was trying to kill Ogami-san from the beginning, and that the criminal may be one of us.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This...this took time. I'm not even sure how much I like it. I wanted to brush over half of that meal scene, but it's basically a giant info dump and the background is kind of needed...I don't know. I didn't think that it would be so hard to write out this case. Saguru is starting to get attached, so is KID...Just continue I guess? Onward! I am aware that Watson is supposed to be male but since the hawk has basically been retconned we're going to ignore that fact.  
> If anyone has any idea how to rewrite this chapter a little better, please just let me know? It kind of hurts to read. Not to mention how many oneshot characters were in this episode........


	10. Red Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tantei-san...” He blinked. Then, slowly, he raised his eyes to look again at the famous ‘sleeping detective’. The foolish act was gone, posture straight and face pinched with concern. 
> 
> “KID,” he realized, eyes glancing nervously toward the door.

******  
“One of us is the criminal?” Mouri-san asked the boy, glaring sceptically. Saguru shared scepticism. Edogawa-kun looked, what, seven? Six? Yet he was acting completely normal after watching a man die of cyanide poisoning, and voicing deductions before any of the other detectives had a chance. 

“Well,” the small child adjusted his glasses, suddenly taking on a childish tone that only further increased Saguru’s suspicions, “if the criminal could have recorded it beforehand, then he or she could have been pretending to listen to the tapes while eating dinner with us, right?” 

“And without any of us noticing,” Saguru cut in, Edogawa’s eyes widening as he saw the narrowed look the London detective was giving him, “the murderer made Ogami-san drink cyanide.” 

“Not only that, but judging by those tapes, the murderer also knew what time he was going to die,” Harufumi sighed. 

“The problem is that no cyanide was found in the cup Ogami-san was drinking from,” Senma-san held up her earlier used coin as proof, still dirty and rusted.

Ikumi-san approached said cup, latex snapping as she pulled two medical gloves onto her hands, “He brought the cup to his mouth about two or three times,” she remembered, lifting it to check.

“But,” younger Mouri spoke up, interrupting all the detectives investigating when she did, “the criminal we’re talking about is Kaitou KID, right? I’ve heard that he doesn’t kill people.” 

The idea of such a thing only added to the building discomfort Saguru was now feeling. He reached up, massaging his forehead tiredly. His other hand pulled at his tie, loosening it so he could breathe better. The action sent his necklace jingling. Eyelids drifted shut as his fingers pulled the cross out from within his buttoned up shirt. Metal sparked against his skin, the burn moving from his chest to his hand. 

Voices continued to circulate the room, but Saguru let them fade from focus. He kept to the back as he tried to get the banging in his head to settle. He had been wearing the necklace too often. It was a double edged sword. He wore it to dull his senses, and it also completely nullified the times his extra senses would somewhat slip without him thinking about controlling them. 

But then whenever he did scent anything in hectic situations, as he had earlier, the overwhelming amount of things he had to take in just left him hungover; for lack of a better term. 

All at once he was dragged from his drifting, eyes fluttering open to meet worried brown ones. “Hakuba-kun,” Mouri-san was standing in front of him, the others gone from the room, “Everyone has gone to check the cars. Are you okay?” 

He stared for more time than he would like to admit, mind swimming and thoughts struggling to form, “I-yes. It is merely a headache from all the blood I can smell here...” At first he didn’t realize how honest he had accidentally been. When he did, he was quick to try and backtrack before the less than useful detective could start criticizing him, “I mean, not that I can smell the blood-there’s nothing-I...”

Saguru promptly bit down on his lip to stop the desperate scramble for excuses. Shame burned his face, adding to the throbbing and making him wince pitifully. His head ducked, his loafers suddenly becoming all too interesting.

“Tantei-san...” He blinked. Then, slowly, he raised his eyes to look again at the famous ‘sleeping detective’. The foolish act was gone, posture straight and face pinched with concern. 

“KID,” he realized, eyes glancing nervously toward the door. A hand wrapped securely around his bicep, making him release his cross he had still been rubbing, and began to lead him out toward the hall.

The others were all already out of sight, probably nearly to the cars. Saguru didn’t focus on that though. He focused on the fact that Kuroba was disguised as Mouri Kogoro. That he had been sitting across the table from him when he risked scenting, not just listening from somewhere nearby. 

“Tantei-san,” KID’s voice, not that annoying pitched tone he had been mimicking before. The smooth tenor relaxing his muscles almost as though by demand, “Did I overstep?” 

“When you invited me?” Saguru guessed, taking a shot in the dark.

He nodded, confirming the theory he had been working off of. When he had called to let the maid know he could attend the gathering, she had been surprised. She had claimed that no invite was supposed to be sent to him, but then she had been informed that plans had changed by her employer. Since that time, Saguru had assumed that KID had set up his attendance. 

“I wanted you to be here,” Kuroba admitted, leading him down the next hall, “but I didn’t think it would turn out so bad. A bit of trouble, a mystery to solve-no one was supposed to die!” That last bit was hardly more than a hiss, his grip tightening around Saguru. 

“I know you don’t want to hurt anyone KID,” an echo of what he had said after getting knocked out by sleeping gas, “This isn’t on you. This is on whoever set the whole thing up using your name.” 

There was no answer and Saguru got the feeling that the other boy was blaming himself. Before he could try to convince him of the truth, Kuroba asked something else.

“Is it really that bad?” He blinked, tilting his head in a silent request for him to elaborate, “Your Hypesthesia. Can you really smell the blood here?” 

Oh. Right, he had told KID that to explain passing out so fast from the sleeping gas. And that he had a problem with blood when he wasn’t expecting it. Bloody hell, Kuroba was probably screaming at himself right now. 

“Hey,” he reached out, catching the pale blue suit jacket the thief was wearing, pulling him to a stop. Outside the hall windows he could already see the flickering glow of fire so they had a minute. There was nothing they could do about the already destroyed cars, “I’m okay.”

“You look like you’re going to pass out,” less KID, more Kuroba. A bite, like the banter they exchanged rather than the smooth gentleman act of his alter. 

“I won’t,” he promised, tightening his hold, “There’s just a lot of it; the headache I can manage. This isn’t your fault.” 

Behind those brown eyes, contacts, KID looked him over. Saguru must look pretty bad if he had the other this worried. 

“Fine,” Kuroba finally relented, shaking his head, “let’s just get this over with so you can get out of here. If something happens, just, pretend to be a fan and ask ‘Mouri-sensei’ for help or something.”

“Before that,” he released the jacket, straightening back up and trying to fix his appearance, “I need to call Watson. You’re not the only one who knows how to come up with backup plans.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter one since the manga actually rushes the end of this case. The explanation took almost a full volume, and then it's like bang! Bang! Everything wrapped up in a couple pages. Yeah, the whole scent thing is really becoming a problem...soon he'll have to 'indulge'. Mwahahahahahahaha!  
> Think of it like if you lock yourself up in a dark room 24/7. When you go out into the sun, it's going to hurt, it's going to give you a headache, you're going to hate it. That's what's happening with the necklace after almost a month of it.


	11. Red Ache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Killing someone using their habit. Saguru couldn’t help but wonder about what would happen if someone covered his watch in poison. His fingers slid over the metal still safely tucked away, silver cutting into his fingers at a comfortable pressure. He had let the others explain away, too busy listening for the sound he now heard approaching.

******  
Learning KID was disguised as Mouri Kogoro was no help in trying to figure out the annoying man. He still was a terrible detective, loud, slow, disruptive; Saguru could’ve gone on. And Kuroba was a perfectionist. That meant he was portraying the man completely accurately. It only brought more questions.

As it turned out, the maid’s car had not been destroyed. She had been given specific instructions to park at the back of the mansion. The issue was, there wasn’t enough room for everyone to ride. 

“Why don’t we decide by flipping coins?” Edogawa’s voice was once again pitched high, innocent and childish as he offered up money from his pocket, “I have five coins, so...”

The metal clanked as it was placed on the hood of the car. Saguru caught ‘Mouri-san’s’ eye just behind the boy. For a split second, the trickster was back, grin all teeth and then gone. 

There was something about the six year old...

“Then the people with coins that land on heads,” Harufumi declared, “will go and check the bridge.” 

A flick of his finger, and the coin flipped through the air. He snatched it as it fell back and layed it on the back of his hand. “The people going are me, Mouri-san, and Harufumi-san,” Senma announced, letting her coin drop to the ground as she slowly made her way to the car’s side. 

Both of the men followed, Harufumi getting the driver seat, and Mouri brushing past Saguru as he went for the passenger. He was careful not to react as he felt something being pushed into his pocket. Clearly intentional. KID wasn’t sloppy enough to let him notice unless he wanted him to. 

“Be careful, Dad!” Young Mouri called, looking after the departing car worriedly. The remaining guests began to head back to the mansion, but Saguru paused when he noticed Edogawa staring down the mountain from off the side of the cliff. Far below, mostly hidden by the trees, was a car. He smirked as the boy turned to sneak a glance at him. Almost immediately, the boy’s eyes widened and he looked away, trying to act innocent. 

He figured it out. Definitely not a normal child.  
******  
“Hey, where’d the kid with blonde hair go?” He heard Harufumi’s voice come loudly from around the corner. The elder, Senma-san, was dead. They said the car exploded while they were checking the bridge.

Just a tiny bit of instinct let forth and he was stalking through the halls. Though he was careful to keep his sense of smell under control, he let his dulled hearing free, navigating around the other guests as they began to search the mansion.

“I’m not actually a showman,” he muttered under his breath as the pieces fell into place, “but I do know how to act.” 

He watched calmly as Ikumi-san entered the bathroom with the two other girls. Waiting. 

The maid stepped out, and Saguru had to tense up so as not to act when the red head raised a cloth to the poor girl's mouth. She crumpled like a house of cards, gently lain against the wall as the doctor slipped back inside. Taking a deep breath through his nose, careful not to scent, he began to reach into his jacket. 

Mouri Ran stepped out of the bathroom a second later. Her violet eyes grew wide in horror, mouth opening to scream only to be covered by a cloth as well. The life in her grew dull, legs giving out to be caught by the older woman. 

It wasn’t fun to watch. Saguru hated knockout drugs. He never knew what was happening when he was out. Watching two girls get chloroformed and just sitting back to wait made him feel grimy. 

Showtime.

“I knew it was you,” he started conversationally as Ikumi left the bathroom. He pulled the thing KID had gifted him, pointing it at her turned back, “The murderer would never endanger themself and go in a car with a bomb planted. The murderer had to be one of the people that remained in this mansion.” 

“Wow, kid,” she raised her hands, glancing back at the revolver held surely in his grasp, “That’s a violent thing you have there.”

“It was under the pillow in my room,” not true, KID had slipped it to him for the event, “I guess it would make it easier to frame this whole thing as us killing each other if we all had guns.”

“What a coincidence,” she hummed, fingers shifting, “I was thinking the exact same thing...” 

BANG!

The small gun in her hands was a surprise as he heard the shot go off. Saguru swayed, his own weapon falling to the ground as his hands flew to his chest. And then his body was giving way, red spilling over his fingers as he followed the gun to the floor. His cross slipped out from his shirt when his chest hit the ground, landing hauntingly on the carpet as blood pooled around it. 

It was a horrible sight, so Saguru closed his eyes. Holy silver surrounded by red. The image remained behind closed eyelids. He struggled to stop his body from moving, from shivering as steps ran closer. Taking in a breath, he held it.

Stop breathing.

“Too, late,” hands were lifting him into arms, rolled onto his back in their grasp, “It went through his heart.” The voice belonged to Mouri-san, belonged to KID. The hands under his neck and on his chest shook faintly, grasp tight before he was releasing him. 

“Someone’s using the stairs!” The voice shouted, more steps thundering as this time they ran away from him. Saguru let his body fall completely limp. Like a puppet whose strings were cut. Lying motionless and unmoving as a loud commotion took place on the floor above him.  
******  
“Hey, kid!” Saguru let his eyes open slowly, taking in the dull ceiling above him. More bodies were around him, crouched at his side. 

“Oh, good,” Ikumi gasped, getting to her feet, “For a moment I was afraid the bullet actually fired.” 

He pulled himself up slowly, feeling disgusted at the feeling of his shirt clinging to his skin. The fake blood he had crushed against his chest was puddled all around him, soaking into his suit’s fabric. Red dripped from his cross as he moved, drawing the attention of several of the detectives. 

Always it seemed to surprise people to learn he was religious. Was, not anymore, but they didn’t know that. Perhaps it was because of his job as a detective. He was supposed to illuminate fact, find the truth, but he believed in something that had no proof. Raised in a religious family and brought up to believe in God.

A handkerchief was handed to him from the woman, which he took gratefully. As he got to his feet he wiped the fake blood from his hands and face. They’d already seen the cross so he didn’t bother hiding it back in his shirt as he reached up to wipe it clean. 

“Seriously,” Harufumi, was looking him over, Mouri-san reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder, “You’re looking a little pale. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Fine,” he sighed. His headache had lightened up the longer he went without scenting. Sure his stomach was still tossing from the events of the evening, but there wasn’t much he could do about that until they got out of here.

“Shall we go see if Edogawa-kun was correct?”  
******  
“...no way out of this mansion,” Saguru had figured as much. It was a good thing he had already initiated plan C, “I was planning to pass away here. I guess Ogami-san believed me when I said I would tell him after dinner though.”

“Humph, just as I thought,” Harufumi reach out, pushing open the dining room doors to reveal their presence, “Senma-san.”

“Ah,” Mouri-san grumbled wiping at his own fake blood stains frustratingly, “What am I going to do? This was my best suit.”

“Well done, boy,” Ikumi praised Edogawa, “You were right. She told the truth when it was only a child that asked.” 

“Don’t tell me,” the poor woman looked close to having a heart attack, silver hair falling messily around her face, “you pretended to die just to ask me the way out?”

“Yeah, ‘cause you were also trying to kill the one who solved it,” Harufumi huffed, a cigarette poked into the corner of his mouth. 

“And we thought that even if we found out while we were alive, you wouldn’t tell us,” was that Mouri-san’s smarts, or Kuroba’s?

“And on a TV screen, watered down ketchup looks like blood,” Ikumi pointed out, revealing the plan they had come up with when the elder woman was away from the mansion. 

“But, when did you know I was the murderer?!” 

“When we tossed coins,” Harufumi huffed, blowing out a puff of smoke, “you reached the furthest to grab a coin away from you. That’s when it came to me, that you didn’t want anyone else to touch the copper coin. If any of us did, the cyanide on our fingers would make it shiny.”

“That’s how we knew it was you and got moving right away,” Ikumi-san tossed her hair, red lips widening in a smile that was mirrored on nearly all the detectives’ faces, “and when we saw Ogami-san’s right thumb, we just about got the trick.” 

Killing someone using their habit. Saguru couldn’t help but wonder about what would happen if someone covered his watch in poison. His fingers slid over the metal still safely tucked away, silver cutting into his fingers at a comfortable pressure. He had let the others explain away, too busy listening for the sound he now heard approaching.

“Now, the question is how to get out of here...” Harufumi sighed, then turned his head up as the noise became audible to their human hearing. 

“What’s that sound?” 

“Oh,” he finally spoke up, pushing aside the hall curtains to look at the sky outside, “it’s probably the police helicopter I called for.”

“Called?” The others seemed startled, all turning to stare at him as he watched the early morning sky grow brighter.

“I tied a message to Watson’s ankle,” he explained, glancing at Edogawa-kun who had already guessed his plan, “and as morning drew closer I had her give it to Baaya who had parked her car close to the cliff. It was a good thing I put an x sticker on the roof so it would look different from any other cars...” 

“Then why didn’t you tell us?!” Ikumi huffed, planting her hands on her hips as she challenged him.

“Then we wouldn’t have to do that stupid play...” Harufumi muttered, shaking his head tiredly.

“I wasn’t sure when the helicopter would get here,” Saguru argued, pausing as a new sound reached his ears. It was like a faint chipping sound. Like a bunch of scratching all at once. 

As they all raced for the front of the mansion where their ride was touching down, Saguru couldn’t help but entertain a small idea. ‘Mouri-san’, who was running beside him, cast him a sharp smirk which he sent back. So that was it...perhaps magic was at play here after all.

The twirling blades of metal gave off a rush of air as they headed outside. He reached up to shield his face, clothes and hair blowing wildly as they all approached the metal flying machine ducked low. 

Sometimes having a father who was the Superintendent paid off. 

“So Kaitou KID didn’t come after all,” young Mouri sighed as they buckled in and the helicopter began to rise. 

“Oh?” Ikumi smiled teasingly, leaning towards the younger girl as she asked, “Did you want him to come?” 

“What? It’s not that,” she said quickly, Edogawa-kun between them looking irritated. A flash of metal and Saguru’s eyes were drawn to the watch on his wrist. The glass of the clock was raised up, fingers on either side of the device. The device that was aimed directly at Mouri-san sitting to his side. 

‘So he figured it out,’ Saguru realized with a smile, nudging the disguised boy covertly, ‘but what is he doing with that watch?’

“But Senma-san,” Harufumi asked the elderly woman that had set them all up, “it was Ogami-san’s plan to pretend you died and sneak up on us, right? Then why did you still pretend after killing him?”

“I wanted you to solve the code my father left me...” Saguru couldn’t help but feel sorry for the woman. Her tone was sad and bitter, youth lost to the years she spent fixated on what had happened. The thought made his chest ache, remembering the warning his father had once given him.

‘Saguru, it is good that you want to help people. But always remember you cannot save everyone. Sometimes a case goes cold. Sometimes, it’s better that a case is forgotten. Do not let yourself get lost, my boy, for being a detective is a hard job to handle. One slip up in deciding your priorities, and you will find your whole life has passed you by, and that you missed it all...’

“While I’m alive,” Senma-san whispered sadly, looking out at the rising sun, “I thought that there would never be another time like this. When great detectives including all of you come together to solve the mystery. I guess the one under the Crow Association’s spell...” He tensed, reading the posture she had suddenly taken. Saguru reached out, warning on his lips just as she finished.

“Was me.” The door slid open, wind flooding the helicopter as she slipped from her seat. 

Saguru felt himself get pushed back, pale blue jumping forth. “Dad!” Mouri-san screamed, watching her father leap from the helicopter. He watched the man twist through the air, aiming for the falling woman. A relieved smile stretched across his lips as Senma was grabbed. The disguise blew away, leaving a triangular, white hang glider below them. 

“Kaitou KD?!” 

Saguru heard the small irritated click of teeth, Edogawa-kun pushing his watch face back down. The boy hung tight to the door handle, leaning out over the drop to glare at the thief flying below them. He extended his hearing as far as it could go. The slicing of the blades above him made him wince minutely until he found the voices he was aiming for.

“...Mouri is a heavy smoke,” the woman was explaining from where she clung to the white suit, “but you haven’t smoked once from the time you got here, have you? Who are those kids?”

Her head peaked past the rim of the glider, looking up at both him and Edogawa who were leaning out to see. Saguru strained, curious how KID would describe them. 

“Hmph,” the teen seemed to be musing, voice playful and teasing as he decided, “They’re sort of like...lovers you never want to meet.” 

That broke his concentration, his free hand flying up to cover his mouth as heat flooded him. He could feel the burn on his ears and cheeks, pulling back from the edge to try and hide the reaction. Edogawa-kun was giving him a really strange look, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. His heartbeat picked up, vampirism be damned. He was still a hormonal teenager. And the boy he had been growing fond of, that smelled like paradise drenched in pleasure, had just referred to him as a ‘lover’. 

Joke or not, Saguru was over the moon. 

The only thing that could catch his attention was the reveal of the mansion. All that old wood and material was peeling off, revealing solid gold underneath. The building glinted under the dawn sun, almost too blinding to look at. It definitely had to be the work of magic. 

He sat back down heavily in his seat as the others continued to admire the mansion. His breathing returned to normal after a moment, heart still thudding wildly. 

‘I need to do something about this...’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! End! Seriously though, that moment? Lovers? Best moment in the whole series. Plus, Saguru's going to do something about the smell problem. Time to indulge!  
> Warning for smut in the next chapter. Please bear with me considering I have never written it before~


	12. Burning Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I can’t believe I’m going to do this...” The admission of guilt was loud in his silent home. He tossed the shirt to his bed, closing the window tightly and drawing the curtains.

******  
All nighters were not something alien to Saguru. His exhaustion from the evening’s events was a combination of his stupidity and overthinking. His father had waived the report on what happened, telling him to go home and rest. Baaya wanted to hover, but that wouldn’t do considering what his plan was. 

He texted Akako on his way to the police station. It was humiliating to ask for her help. She had offered though. That very first time on the roof, she had been the one to suggest the idea. 

Saying his farewells to the other detectives had been a rushed affair, his body already itching at the idea that had been growing since that moment in the helicopter. It took a lot to convince his caretaker to let him be alone at the estate. Every suggestion was met by a wall of hesitance. She hadn’t wanted to go anywhere and so he had resorted to tugging on her concern for him in a disgusting manner.

“Baaya,” he sighed finally, letting his head drop low and voice turn tired and burnt out, “Forgive me, but I don’t think I can sleep with other people in the house at the moment.” 

It was such a horrible thing to do. He had used the excuse once or twice before since becoming a vampire. When he needed to be free of eyes for a while to sneak out, or to invite a donor into the house. It was a lie where he claimed he was unable to relax so long as someone was nearby, so long as he couldn’t feel safe. 

The twist of guilt and shame on his adoptive grandmother’s face was like a knife in his gut. Being turned over again and again as he watched her quickly depart, leaving for her sister’s house with one last call to be careful. To call her if anything happened. 

What was worse? He completely forgot about the shame when Akako came through.

When he went up to his bedroom, he found a large black crow sitting on the windowsill. In its claws was a black shirt. Saguru swallowed down saliva, body trembling with too many emotions for him to try and sort out as he took in the opportunity the witch had given him. 

Watson was crying, flapping in her cage that he held in his hand. “Sorry girl,” he whispered, turning back around to set her on one of the hall tables, “but I’m going to need you to stay out for now. Okay?”

She hopped out of her cage the second he opened the door. As usual she could sense how he felt, trilling angrily at the bird in the room behind him as she picked up whatever emotions he was giving off. His finger ran absently over her feathers one more time, a soft coo leaving his lips.

Then he stepped back into his bedroom, latching the door shut behind him. The crow watched calmly as he approached, lifting the clothing it was carrying when he stopped in front of it. “Tell your master I said thanks,” he requested. His fingers were shaking as they wrapped around the black clothes, pulling it from the bird’s claws. 

It screamed in affirmation, making Saguru step back. Rather than fly away, the magic familiar burned up in a ball of red flame. Embers danced through the air and drifted down to his floor. Before any fires could start though, they disappeared, leaving behind nothing but an open window. 

“I can’t believe I’m going to do this...” The admission of guilt was loud in his silent home. He tossed the shirt to his bed, closing the window tightly and drawing the curtains. 

The fake blood, watered down ketchup, had dried on his suit. Stains that would take a dry cleaner to get out. Usually he would fold up his clothes as he stripped, but he was feeling too disorganized to put the effort in. As he pulled off his own clothing, his eyes kept coming back to the innocent seeming shirt now crumpled on his bed. Kuroba’s innocent seeming shirt.

His pants hit the floor alongside his jacket and tie. Socks followed and then he was fumbling through unbuttoning his undershirt. His fingers stumbled over the movement, jittery with excitement that he felt bubbling up. The heat was back. Coiled in gut just as it was every time he scented his classmate. Yet, he hadn’t even smelled the shirt. 

It was like his body knew what was coming, that it could finally indulge as his shirt fell open. The cross still hung from his neck, shifting with each movement as he started to move to his bed. As he passed by his full body mirror on the opposite wall he was reminded of what had happened in the witch’s shop. 

The heat curled as he took in his disheveled appearance. His hair was a mess, still sticky with red in some spots. His skin was definitely paler, but at the same time flushed. Blush burned over him, arousal clear in every aspect of. His shirt was hanging open, dark briefs the only thing covering him now. That necklace was still hanging. A spark of anger flashed through him as he took in the glinting silver.

Hands reached up without command, unclipping the jewelry from around his neck and letting it fall to the carpet unceremoniously. 

He was going to do this. 

The red blanket of his bed was soft against his bare skin. He crawled onto the mattress, pulling the ties of his curtains as he went. The dark wine drapes cascaded around him, slipping from where they had clung to the bed posts before. He was completely hidden from outside eyes. Contained in a bed that was all that existed now. 

It would be abrupt. Saguru knew that. The idea that he would lose himself immediately, that he would stop being in control, was what made him hesitate as he lifted the shirt to his face. There would be no going back once he did this. This would make or break his relationship with Kuroba depending on what happened.

But he couldn’t do it anymore. Nearly a month of practice and he still couldn’t handle the scent. It would take him years, and he couldn’t wait that long. His lust made the decision for him.

He let his mouth open, tongue pushing out slightly to not just inhale the scent, but breath it. 

Saguru was lost.

It was everywhere, completely surrounding him unhindered. Pleasure jolted through his body as Kuroba’s scent came to him, heat uncoiling all at once to finally be free. He felt his muscles jolt, falling to his side on the bed as he came undone just from being able to scent the smell properly. 

He could feel the wetness in his underwear, already sticky from his reaction. Had he already come? Saguru couldn’t think. Pleasure just resurfaced, his hips moving into the bed and mouth falling open to release sounds he’d never heard from himself before. Fangs grew to full size, pushing his mouth further open and making him louder. 

Bloodlust raged over him as he released his vampire side, demanding he chase after Kuroba and do anything to get that blood. Anything. Anything to him, anything for him, anything. 

He choked on saliva, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth with how wide it was. His body itched for something he had never wanted before. It itched to be under someone, to be under Kuroba. His hips jolted again into the blanket, hands pulling fistfulls of the cover towards him as he climaxed again just from the thought. 

It wasn’t enough.

He reached down, pushing the underwear from around him and twisting on his back to take matters into his own hands. The shirt was still laying next to him emitting that amazing drugging scent that was like an aphrodisiac to the hormonal teenage vampire. 

His hand worked up and down his length, pace frantic as shook with pleasure. Slick already covered him, splattered on his lower stomach and speckling his shirt. His mouth opened wider still, aching to close around skin as he screamed from how good it felt. His skin grew stickier as more of his seed splattered over him, hips moving as he thought about Kuroba being over him, being sweet, being rough...

‘Saguru,’ he’d never heard the boy say his first name before but his imagination seemed pretty accurate. Again he was twisting, forehead pressing into the bed and hips raising into the air. His fingers were wet with cum, reaching behind on instinct for something he’d never done before. 

The first finger was strange. The scent didn’t allow for pain though, it twisted the odd sensation into pleasure the second his mind comprehended it. His opposite hand still worked his length, coming over and over again as he began to work at stretching himself. 

A second finger was smoother, hole already dripping with cum and making sliding the digits in and out easier. He didn’t wait before adding another, his body jolting as he practically screeched in pleasure.

Darkness danced around his eyesight when he pulled his face from the bed, lips split by his fangs so blood mixed with saliva that slid down his chin. His hips pushed back, trying to reach the spot deep inside of him that ached. 

‘Saguru! I’m-’ the idea of Kuroba behind him, hanging over him, losing himself in the pleasure just like his detective was, nearly made Saguru lose his mind. He moaned, long and drawn out, climbing up into a scream as his fingers drove closer to what he wanted. They weren’t long enough though.

A whimper emerged from his throat, pleading, lost in the fantasy as he begged for Kuroba to stop teasing him. The teen’s name fell from his lips, louder, louder, louder, until he was screaming it as he came. The bed soaked beneath him and vision darkening; Saguru passed out still breathing in the amazing scent.  
******  
“Shhhh,” a quiet voice hummed, fingers carding through his hair comfortingly as he whined, “It’s alright, Saguru-kun. I’m here.” 

He leaned in, burrowing into the warmth curled against him. He felt disgusting. 

“Hey now,” Akako’s voice sounded worried, fingers wiping under his eyes gently as tears began to fall, “don’t cry. It worked, didn’t it?” 

He hated that it had. His skin felt dirty and crusty, cold now that heat was gone. The shirt was still pulled against his chest, the scent still surrounded him, but it wasn’t as it had been. All the roaring instincts were sated now that they’d indulged, and he was left breathing in his classmates' smell. His classmate who had no idea he’d used his shirt to get off.

His potential friend who had no idea what he’d done.

Another whine of denial left his lips, pressing harder into the kind witch comforting him. He didn’t know when she had started to use his first name. It wasn’t a big concern at the moment. 

“I feel...” he choked around the blood, salt, and saliva in his mouth, more tears falling, “disgusting. Alone. Monstrous.”

“Why?” 

Why? Why did he feel that way? Because-

“Because I did that,” he whispered against her lap which he was curled in, “because I want him to hold me. Because I want his blood and his body, but I can’t even say for sure I want him.”

That was the crux of it. His fondness for the magician had started to grow and he couldn’t even say for sure if those were honest feelings. It could all be because of his vampirism, pushing him to get closer, to take what he wanted. It went against his nature. The idea that he was just using the other teenager to get what he wanted, left him feeling terribly hollow.

Akako was quiet through his confession, still kindly coaxing him to come back to himself. A clean blanket had been thrown over him, and he knew that he’d be far more embarrassed about it later. 

“Sorry,” the apology was hardly more than a sob as he shut his eyes and felt more tears fall, “Sorry for doing this. Sorry for making you come here and see me like this.” 

“Don’t apologize, Saguru-kun,” she sounded...angry? Disappointed? “I was the one that sent you the shirt and suggested such an action in the first place. It’s only right I come to check on my friend after.” 

Friend. They were friends. Saguru had never had a friend before. It was quite horrible that this was the situation he gained one in though. The fact that she had seen him like this...See. Seeing-

“I can’t see him,” he whispered, horrified, “If I see him now, I’ll-I can’t-”

Fingers brushed his lips, stopping his words.

“Okay,” she said softly, “I understand...Tell me, Saguru-kun, have you ever been to Paris?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the end of the first story for this series. Saguru needs a break after what he did. Shame can be a very strong driver. I'm also sending Akako with him because they're close. After the Chat Noir case, I'll probably write the Lavender Mansion case so he'll be meeting Hattori Heiji.  
> I don't know how good of smut this was? I've never written it before and he was kind of crazy out of his mind with lust...


End file.
